Chapter 299: All 384 Beast-Taming High Schools in the Province

The next day.

Sacred Water Middle School.

When Qiao Sang arrived at Training Ground No. 1, she found that all the school team members from every combat group and team combat group from Gao Yi through Gao San had already gathered, and the coaches of each grade's school team were also present.

The students of each grade stood in three lines, like three camps.

"I thought it was just us, didn't expect Gao Er and Gao San to be here too."

"Doesn't the competition start tomorrow? What's with the big gathering today?"

The ones raising questions were all Gao Yi students.

The Gao Er and Gao San students were discussing the condition of their respective pet beasts.

"I'm not bragging, but my Slurry Thornberry's physical fitness is top-notch among every high school in Hanggang City."

"You didn't take drugs, did you?"

"Impossible!"

While the group was chatting idly, someone caught a glimpse of Qiao Sang walking in from outside the door and immediately waved enthusiastically to greet her:

"Qiao Sang! Over here!"

The rest of the people instantly looked over.

"Qiao Sang!"

"Here, here!"

"Qiao Sang! Come quick! We've been waiting for you!"

From each of the three grade groups, someone waved and called Qiao Sang over.

As someone without choice paralysis, Qiao Sang didn't hesitate at all and strode toward the direction of the Gao San school team.

Even though she was Gao Yi.

She had once been on the Gao Er school team.

But now she was a member of the Gao San school team!

"Now that everyone's here, I'll go over what we need to prepare and pay attention to today and tomorrow." Sun Boyi spoke up.

Once the coach spoke, the training ground quickly fell silent.

"Tomorrow is the preliminary round of the National Campus Beast-Taming League. All 384 beast-taming high schools in the province will participate. The first round's matchups have already been decided by lottery drawn by each school's principal." Sun Boyi swept his gaze across the students before him and said:

"The opponent our principal drew for us is Fuqi Beast-Taming High School."

Fuqi Beast-Taming High School... Qiao Sang thought for a moment and found she had no impression of it.

"Fuqi Beast-Taming High School competed against our school once in the last National Campus Beast-Taming League. You Gao Yi students might not know much about it yet. It's a beast-taming high school from neighboring Hanwen City, and locally it can only be considered mid-to-lower tier." Sun Boyi explained.

"So it's Fuqi Beast-Taming High School."

"Our principal has lucky hands!"

"I remember this school, weak as hell, no different from a free win."

For a moment, the crowd buzzed with whispers.

The atmosphere in the training ground relaxed considerably.

"Quiet!" Sun Boyi said sternly: "This is only the first round! We have seven rounds in one week! What you need to do is take every match seriously! Not be arrogant here! Hearing the opponent's name and thinking you've already won!"

At these words, everyone quickly shut up.

Sun Boyi continued: "The Gao Yi students aren't clear on the format yet, so let me explain. In the preliminaries, all 384 beast-taming high schools in the province will be divided into 48 groups, 8 schools per group."

"Whichever group you're assigned to, you'll have to play against all 7 other schools in that group one by one. The matches use a points system: winners get 3 points, losers get 0 points, draws get 1 point."

"After the preliminaries end, rankings will be determined based on the points."

"Only those ranked in the top 48 have a chance of advancing to the next stage."

"Top 48 is just the beginning! Our ultimate goal is the top four! Because only the top four have a chance to participate in the semifinals and earn the qualification to compete in the regional tournament." After saying this, Sun Boyi raised his voice:

"Is that clear to everyone!"

"Clear!" everyone responded in unison.

Sun Boyi nodded with satisfaction.

Qin Wen, who had been standing nearby, took over the conversation upon seeing this: "There's one important thing we still need to do before the competition, and that's taking our pet beasts for a physical examination. We're heading to the Beast-Taming Center now!"

Pet beast physical examinations are required in advance for every large-scale, official competition.

Only when the physical examination report is issued on the fixed date will the organizers officially register the list of participants into the backend.

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The purpose of the pet beast physical examination isn't really to check whether the pet beasts are sick — it's to prevent some people from doing whatever it takes to win, such as giving their pet beasts stimulants that accelerate or enhance central nervous system activity, putting the beasts in a state of intense excitement, or other potions that can boost a pet beast's strength in a short time.

These potions usually have side effects — they harm the body, and they also make pet beasts develop a dependency. They're banned by every major official competition.

……

On the school team's chartered bus heading to the Beast-Taming Center.

Xu Yixuan scrolled through her phone for a long time, then opened a certain document in her notes app and asked Qiao Sang: "The detailed information on Fuqi Beast-Taming High School's Gao San school team members is all here. Do you want me to send it to you?"

Before Qiao Sang could answer, Xu Yixuan went on by herself: "Never mind, all my data on them is from last year. This year's hasn't been updated yet."

"Actually, whether you look at their school or not doesn't make much difference for you. Some of them probably still have one of their two pet beasts that hasn't even reached Intermediate."

They're already in Gao San and their pet beasts still haven't reached Intermediate? That's pretty weak... Qiao Sang couldn't help but complain internally.

Actually, most Gao San students still only have one pet beast.

And having two pet beasts — one Beginner and one Intermediate — is already considered ahead among peers.

It's just that Qiao Sang was at Sacred Water Middle School, on the school team, and usually spent her time outside at pet beast clubs. The people she dealt with were different from ordinary students who just attend school normally, so her sense of things had become a bit different.

It's like when top students spend all their time with other top students, and occasionally run into someone with average grades, they exclaim: Ah, so there really are such stupid people in this world!

An old man who once seemed quite amiable had said something like this:

"There's a major secret I have to tell you all — a high school student of normal intelligence should be able to score 120 on math, and can. The college entrance exam has a hard rule: 30% basic points, 50% mid-range questions, 20% hard questions. So 30% plus 50% is 80%, and 80% of 150 points is 120 points."

He concluded: "Those 120 points are deliberately given away."

The moment those words came out, netizens swarmed to denounce him for talking nonsense.

Qiao Sang's current inner thoughts gave people the same feeling as that old man's words — the moment she said anything, she'd get roasted.

"Oh right, hasn't someone been selling your information on the forum lately? I spent 1,000 to buy a copy too. Don't worry, this person doesn't know about Bingluqiya yet." Xu Yixuan lowered her voice and said: "I guess this person is from our school, but definitely not on our school team."

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment, then stared at Xu Yixuan and said sincerely: "Thank you!"

"What are you thanking me for." Xu Yixuan scratched her head, looking a little embarrassed.

Of course, thanking her for the 1,000 Alliance Coins… Qiao Sang's gaze at Xu Yixuan instantly softened a great deal.

Usually the people who privately messaged her to buy information were stingy as hell — it was rare to meet a buyer with a four-digit sum, so naturally she remembered it very clearly.

So it was you all along…

As they chatted, the Beast Center arrived.

PS: Last night I said I'd just close my eyes for a bit before writing, but ended up sleeping straight through till early morning...