Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

The group chat Dorothy sent the message in was a large one, with students from all years in the Beast Taming Department.

As soon as the message was sent, everyone started chiming in:

[Is that the freshman Qiao Sang who made it onto the Top 100 list?]

[Damn! Which fifth-year guy is it? He actually ranked ahead of me!]

[Is the info accurate?]

[Where’s the battle happening? Someone share the location, I’m going to watch.]

[Count me in.]

[What’s the battle format?]

[It must be 1v1. Qiao Sang has two general-level pets. Anyone with a brain wouldn’t challenge her to 3v3.]

The challenger could choose which format to request.

Of course, the challenge could be refused if the one being challenged disagreed.

However, to prevent students on the Top 100 from avoiding battles to maintain their rank, the school required them to accept at least one challenge within a set timeframe, or they'd be automatically removed from the list.

While the chat buzzed with discussion, Hadro suddenly stood up.

“I’m going to find a referee!”

With that, he quickly walked out of the lecture hall.

Dorothy put her phone down and leaned over to ask: “What format did he pick?”

“1v1.” Qiao Sang replied.

She didn’t even need to check. All the upperclassmen who applied for a battle picked 1v1 without exception.

“That’s a huge loss for you.” Dorothy frowned.

A single general-level pet was already considered the peak combat power during undergraduate studies.

There were a handful of seniors with one general-level pet, but Qiao Sang was the only one Dorothy knew who had two.

If it were 3v3, Qiao Sang would’ve definitely won. But 1v1? That was harder to say.

She’d looked into it before, most Top 100 battles were full-team 3v3s. Few ever chose 1v1.

That senior clearly knew Qiao Sang had two general-level pets and specifically picked this format.

And Qiao Sang agreed to 1v1 without even knowing his background, wasn’t that a bit too confident...? Dorothy was worried.

Gossip aside, she still sincerely hoped this monster of a classmate would win.

After all, Qiao Sang had crushed all the freshmen during the entrance evaluation. If she casually lost to a senior now, it would make their entire freshman class look weak.

Just then, Qiao Sang calmly said: “Only those who aren’t confident in winning think they’re at a disadvantage.”

She wasn’t blindly confident. She’d already looked into El’s strength.

That guy had barely clung to the bottom of the Top 100. Besides him, none of her challengers were even on the list, meaning they were weaker.

El only had one general-level pet.

So no matter who challenged her, it would be a general-level pet at most.

If their pet levels matched, she had full faith in Yabao and Little Treasure.

After all, no one else at her level had pets that had mastered so many ultimate-level skills.

Dorothy was moved by her words, feeling a sudden burst of admiration: Totally something a badass would say...

---

During the first class break, the Beast Taming Department’s exclusive indoor battle arena was packed.

Top 100 battles always drew attention.

Especially since today's challenger had a bit of a legendary vibe, Qiao Sang had entered the Top 100 as a freshman, and crushed the other newbies during the entrance exams. Every detail made her fascinating.

In the southwest stands, El sat in a black tactical jacket, watching the arena with a serious, focused gaze.

“Didn’t you say you had training? How come you’re here?”

The speaker was the blonde senior who’d earlier shouted Qiao Sang’s name in the special zone.

“I’m about to battle Qiao Sang. Of course I need to observe her strength.” El replied.

The blonde raised a brow: “So you’re that sure Qiao Sang will win?”

El analyzed calmly: “I watched her entrance evaluation. Her Fire Qilu’s Meteor Rain had clearly reached ultimate in mastery. If Dean Gilbert Heron hadn’t intervened in time, the maintenance and medical teams would’ve been overwhelmed.”

“Hadro’s in my class, I know his strength. If Qiao Sang uses Fire Qilu, he won’t stand a chance.”

The blonde fell silent for a moment, then asked with a strange expression: “If you know that, Hadro should too. So why’d he still apply for the battle?”

El glanced sideways at her.

The blonde immediately realized: “You told Hadro to do it!”

El nodded expressionlessly: “I only have footage from her entrance exam, and it was taken from too far away. It’s unclear. I need to assess her real strength before I battle her.”

So sneaky... the blonde thought to herself. Then she asked: “Then why were you trying to challenge her earlier if you didn’t even know her strength?”

El waved her hand: “I didn’t know back then.”

The blonde paused, then understood.

“Tsk.”

---

On the battlefield.

Holy crap, there’s so many people. Feels like an official match… Qiao Sang thought, hearing the surrounding buzz.

Just then, a clear voice rang out from the speakers: “Both parties, please summon your beasts.”

The referee, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, sat behind a wooden desk just outside the field boundary.

In front of him sat a pet about 50cm tall with a triangular head. It wore a white mini shrinking bracelet on its paw, and each horn had a cannon-like hole.

“Fafa.”

At the referee’s command, the triangular-headed pet raised a green flag with its paw and swung it forward.

Qiao Sang and Hadro made hand signs at the same time.

A golden-orange summoning array appeared.

“Xun xun~”

Soon, Little Treasure emerged from the array.

Qiao Sang had already decided to use Little Treasure, so she’d stored him in her Beast Codex ahead of time.

Little Treasure was strong, and his recent training had pushed many of his skills to the ultimate level.

Since evolving into the Ghost Ring King, he hadn’t had a proper battle yet.

Also, lately whenever she summoned Little Treasure, he always reacted a beat too slow.

Qiao Sang suspected he had been spending too much time playing computer games. So this match was meant to jog his brain and get his focus back.

Ice Armor Beast, a super stellar ice-type general-rank pet, had a body that looked like ice but was as hard as steel. It moved by crushing anything in its way with its massive body…

Qiao Sang studied the 6-meter-tall beast in the distance. It looked like a turtle, with amber eyes and cylindrical limbs covered in spikes. All the relevant info surfaced in her mind.

Thanks to her studies, her knowledge had broadened a lot, most super stellar beasts no longer required her to look them up.

She didn’t summon Fire Qilu? El frowned from the stands, seeing the ghost-type pet on the field.

“Xun xun…”

Meanwhile, Little Treasure stared nervously at his opponent.

He could feel his beastmaster’s excitement wasn’t the same lately, possibly because he had been gaming too much.

If he lost this battle, would his beast master ban him from playing games?

Thinking of that, Little Treasure’s eyes firmed up.

“Xun xun!”

He has to win this match!