Chapter 345: Someone Else Won the Lottery

Xu Yixuan and He Datao both wore blank, dumbfounded expressions, momentarily unable to come back to their senses.

And when they did come back to their senses, the very first thought that surfaced in their minds was remarkably the same: just how did Qiao Sang manage to crack a joke with such a straight face?

To be honest, although it was pitifully rare, it wasn't as if no one in high school had ever managed to nurture a pet beast to the advanced tier.

But those cases all happened in Gao San, and almost exclusively in the second half of the Gao San school year.

To qualify for the entrance examinations set up by top-tier academies, one had to either: first place in the provincial rankings of the government-organized school competitions held during the three years of high school.

Or pass the D-rank Beast Tamer assessment.

And the most important registration requirement for the D-rank Beast Tamer assessment was owning an advanced-tier pet beast.

In other words, even if you got first place in the province for the National School Beast Taming League, without an advanced-tier pet beast you couldn't take the D-rank Beast Tamer exam, and you still wouldn't qualify for the top-tier academy entrance examination.

The importance of an advanced-tier pet beast went without saying.

This was also why, during the National School League stage, when someone's pet beast evolved into the advanced tier, basically no one kept it under wraps; instead, they would publicize it far and wide to boost their school's reputation.

No one would think that was showing off.

When 99% of the Gao San contestants' pet beasts across all schools were intermediate tier, a competitor who owned an advanced-tier pet beast—setting aside future prospects—was already, in the here and now, a participant with both feet firmly planted in the divisional tournament.

For someone like that, there was absolutely no need to save a dramatic reveal for the final moment of the provincial tournament.

So what if they announced it? Under the crushing weight of absolute strength, any investigation or weakness analysis was meaningless.

Even if a competitor with an advanced-tier pet beast had a weakness, you couldn't exploit it.

Pet beast battles aren't written exams; knowing the answers ahead of time doesn't earn you a perfect score.

This was also the main reason Xu Yixuan and He Datao hadn't believed that Ding Yanjing's Valley Tail Flower had evolved into a Valley Tail Sunflower.

If it had evolved, Li Tan Beast-Taming High School would definitely have publicized it—of that they were absolutely certain.

As for Ding Yanjing, they simply hadn't heard any rumors, which was why they didn't believe it.

But Qiao Sang was a different story.

A Gao Yi freshman, barely two months into high school by any stretch—could a pet beast really evolve into an advanced tier in such a short time?

Give me a break!

Even if she announced it, not a single person would believe it!

Although Xu Yixuan was a bit speechless, since Qiao Sang had finally made a joke, she still felt she ought to match her frequency.

It was just a joke—who couldn't take one?

Xu Yixuan draped an arm over Qiao Sang's shoulder, broke into a smile, and said, "Amazing! When did it happen? Have you thought of a name yet?"

Qiao Sang said, "Just last night. I'm calling it Star Blaze Hound."

She's actually answering with a straight face… Xu Yixuan nearly lost control of her expression.

"Should we go tell Teacher Sun and the others?" He Datao asked with a grin from the side. Clearly, he was thinking the same thing as Xu Yixuan.

Qiao Sang thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait until today's matches are over."

She hadn't intended to keep it a secret; she had just originally planned to keep a low profile. After all, as of yesterday, the number of people who knew about Ya Bao's evolution already equaled an entire police station.

But after hearing Xu Yixuan and the others' reasoning just now, she felt it made a lot of sense—the teachers definitely had to know about a pet beast evolution right away.

She also needed to call the vice principal so he could draw up a new nurturing plan for Ya Bao, and the Energy Pill formula would have to be redone as well.

Never expected Qiao Sang to keep going… He Datao's mouth twitched, and he said nothing more.

Just as Xu Yixuan and He Datao were exchanging glances that conveyed their inner thoughts, Qiao Sang spoke up:

"You knowing is enough, no need to publicize it. I have a feeling Ding Yanjing's Valley Tail Flower might really have evolved into a Valley Tail Sunflower, so let's keep a low profile too."

Xu Yixuan: "…"

He Datao: "…"

She's not done yet?!

……

The matches proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Qiao Sang watched the battles quietly.

After battling three General-tier pet beasts—even though the opponents had admittedly gone easy on her—Qiao Sang's眼界 had still improved considerably. Watching the matches just now, she couldn't help feeling the pet beasts were either too slow or their moves too weak; in short, they were just too weak.

Realizing what she was thinking, Qiao Sang quickly adjusted her mindset.

It was wrong to think that way! She still had Lu Bao!

Given Lu Bao's strength, she still had to be cautious!

Time passed slowly. When Qiao Sang took the field and summoned Lu Bao, the platform that the officials had finally managed to fix crashed again.

"Lu."

Lu Bao regarded her opponent with a cool, aloof expression, completely unaware that her mere appearance had caused the platform to crash.

Her opponent was a Water Burst Shrimp.

Water Burst Shrimp, the evolved form of Water Secretion Shrimp, had a violent temper and loved picking fights.

Unlike most Fire-type pet beasts, which only fought back after being provoked, Water Burst Shrimp liked causing trouble for no reason—the type to start something out of nowhere.

The moment it appeared, it挑衅ly flashed its two large pincers at Lu Bao.

Lu Bao looked at it expressionlessly.

"Burst burst!"

Water Burst Shrimp flashed its large pincers again.

Lu Bao looked at it expressionlessly.

"Burst burst!"

Water Burst Shrimp flashed its large pincers again.

Lu Bao looked at it expressionlessly.

"Baobao..."

The Water Burst Shrimp set down its large pincers with a stiff expression.

"Beep!" The whistle signaling the start of the match sounded.

This match ended exactly as everyone expected — the battle was over within a minute.

The collision of water guns left small puddles all over the ground. Lubao leapt down onto the floor and vanished from sight, then reappeared behind the Water Burst Shrimp and won the match with a Water Tail.

"Ice Luqiya is really pretty…"

"Speaking seriously, if this arena were a water field it might've been worth watching. The Water Burst Shrimp has explosive power in water, but on land, never mind the explosive power — its movement speed drops by a huge margin. Ice Luqiya is also a water-type beast, but it's clearly at an innate advantage over the Water Burst Shrimp when moving on land, and its speed doesn't seem lacking compared to some ground-type beasts either — it must have been specifically trained."

"And then there's its Water-Melt trait. Any water-type skill the Water Burst Shrimp releases that doesn't hit Ice Luqiya in one shot will only create a field that's even more favorable for it."

"Speaking of which, I actually really want to see Ice Luqiya take a hit and use Healing Light — you know that blue light from yesterday, right? I specifically looked it up, and you might not believe me when I say this, but that's a super-rank skill!"

"As if you needed to tell me — it went viral yesterday, okay?"

"If you're nearsighted, does one shine of that fix it?"

"Tch, forget nearsighted — even if you're blind, one shine and you'll be seeing 5.3!"

The crowd watched the pale-blue beast on the field and broke into discussion.

Qiao Sang used Lubao to easily win all of her matches.

Equally at ease were Xu Yixuan and He Datao.

Today's matches hadn't put any pressure on them.

The three sat in the spectator stands waiting for the day's final match to end.

Qiao Sang held Lubao and watched the match, while Xu Yixuan and He Datao glanced at who was stepping up to the field, then looked at their phones — clearly thinking the opponent wouldn't be a match for them.

Suddenly, Xu Yixuan clicked her tongue and said: "Someone in Hongrao Town won the lottery again."