Chapter 3: The Twins

Yuxiao Academy’s cafeteria offered good quality at low prices. Ingredients that would cost a fortune outside and were rich in spiritual energy were supplied cheaply to students, silently nourishing their bodies.

This was also why Beast Tamers were mainly academy-trained—compared to wild Beast Tamers, the resources available in academies were far superior.

Most of Yuxiao Academy’s students were commoners, and affordable, nourishing meals were important to them. That was why the cafeteria here was built so well, and the students coming and going were numerous. It was estimated that the number of people visiting the cafeterias of the other two academies in three days combined could barely match one day at Yuxiao Academy.

In front of Isaiah was the largest-sized tray, and he was leisurely enjoying dinner with Little Fire when a quarrel suddenly erupted in the noisy cafeteria.

“I told you, stop pestering my sister!” shouted a girl with short fiery-red hair in annoyance. Behind her stood a little girl with long orange hair in braids who looked very well-behaved. She was watching her sister worriedly, and when she saw more and more people looking over, she tugged at her sister’s sleeve.

“It took me so long to find you two—what’s going on? Let me talk to Zhu Zhu alone.” The slightly chubby boy facing them was confused and angry.

The red-haired girl rubbed her temples. “She doesn’t want to see you! Come on, let’s go to the arena. Don’t make a scene in public. If you lose, then stop coming to find Zhu Zhu from now on.”

“Fine, let’s go! I’m not afraid of you. So what if you’ve trained your beast half a year longer than me? I have an S-rank talent!”

The boy blurted out, not noticing at all that when he said this, the orange-haired younger sister’s gaze toward him grew even colder.

Isaiah ate his meal with relish, using the quarrel as a garnish. The onlookers nearby whispered among themselves.

“He looks unfamiliar—S-rank, must be a new student, right?”

“Probably. Fighting in the arena on the first day of school—looks like there’ll be another regular there from now on. But going up against a second-year, he really doesn’t know his place. Du Song is no decorative pillow. Even if he contracted his beast half a year early, he probably doesn’t have much chance of winning.”

“Yeah, every year there are always a few who think they’re hot stuff because of their high talent and look down on people with lower ranks than them, not realizing that talent is only part of the equation in beast taming.”

An arena match? That sounded interesting. Isaiah sped up his chewing. He had never seen how Beast Tamers in this world fought. Before, it had only been humans against beasts—now it had become humans fighting alongside beasts.

Just as Isaiah finished dinner and was about to follow along to watch, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It was Lin Jun. She looked like the type who made friends easily, and she struck up a conversation with Isaiah.

“Isaiah, you’re here for the excitement too? I know them. That guy is Xu Shengyu from Class A2 next door—his talent is S-rank earth affinity. The older sister of those two, Du Song, is in second-year Class B3, with an A-rank fire affinity talent. The younger sister, Du Zhu, is actually in our class.”

“I heard Xu Shengyu seems to like Du Zhu. He started chasing after her from the moment he enrolled—otherwise, with his background, he should have gone to Xuanshan Academy. But Du Zhu doesn’t pay him much attention.” Lin Jun explained to Isaiah as they walked.

“Really? You know so much.” Isaiah put on a slightly surprised expression, but in reality he hadn’t paid any attention to his classmates at all, and was even inwardly marveling at the richness of human emotions.

Since the Great Mutation began and spiritual energy descended, human bodies had been transformed by energy. Ordinary people now had an average lifespan of a hundred and twenty years, and Beast Tamers, with the physical bonuses fed back from their beasts, could easily live two or three hundred years.

At the same time, development had slowed down. The growth period lasted a full twenty-two years, and only at twenty-five was one considered an adult. Isaiah’s classmates looked like middle schoolers, but they were actually all over eighteen.

The arena match began quickly once both sides were ready. There was quite a crowd, and they found seats in the front row. At Lin Jun’s strong request, Little Fire was dozing on her lap.

For reasons of safety, saving space, and maintenance costs, the arena had many restrictions—for example, releasing beasts whose body size exceeded one-third of the arena was not allowed, and only one beast could be released on the field at a time.

Du Song didn’t underestimate her opponent and released her strongest beast right away. “Come out, Crimson Shadow Fox!”

A three-tailed fox landed on the field. Since this was a public challenge, a support light screen thoughtfully displayed the Beast Tamer and beast information for the audience—level, evaluated six-dimensional charts, and so on.

[Race: Crimson Shadow Fox]

[Level: LV21]

[Rank: Elite]

[Beast Tendency: Strong Attack Type]

The chart results were Agility A, Strength C, Spirit C, Constitution B, Defense D, Element B.

“Spore Spray Mushroom.” On stage, Xu Shengyu shed his earlier reckless, brainless manner and calmed down to face the match.

[Race: Spore Spray Mushroom]

[Level: LV17]

[Rank: Elite]

[Beast Tendency: Field Control Type]

The chart results were Agility C, Strength B, Spirit D, Constitution A, Defense B, Element B.

Beast tendency was a function added to arena matches so the audience could understand better and both sides could learn their opponent’s tendency in advance.

Natural-style Beast Tamers could be broadly divided into five categories: Strong Attack, Defense, Support, All-Around, and Field Control. Among them, All-Around and Defense types were the least numerous.

Defense types could only be useful on large-scale battlefields, while All-Around types, because their cultivation resources were too scattered, ended up with low quality in individual beasts—a major disadvantage in the many beast taming competitions where generally only one or two beasts could appear.

Field Control types relied heavily on the Beast Tamer’s brains and the beast’s skill combinations. Support types had low self-preservation ability, so only Beast Tamers backed by powerful forces would choose them.

Taking all these factors into account, Strong Attack Beast Tamers were the most numerous. Among all the students at Yuxiao Academy, three-fifths were Strong Attack Beast Tamers, and the arena was basically dominated by Strong Attack and Field Control Beast Tamers. A showdown between a Strong Attack and a Field Control type was very common.

All the spectators couldn’t help but comment on the match, and chatter came from behind Isaiah.

“Good heavens, a level 17 Elite-rank beast—its stats look much more well-rounded than the Crimson Shadow Fox’s. Earth attribute also has some resistance to fire attribute. This move against the assassination-oriented Crimson Shadow Fox is a good choice.”

“This first-year looks really strong.”

“I’m so done with these days where I’m worse than my seniors and worse than my juniors!”

There were many discussions around them. Lin Jun turned her head, seemingly not surprised. “Xu Shengyu’s strength should surpass quite a few second-year, even third-year students. But Senior Du Song is also among the top of the second year. Their matchup should still be worth watching.”

“I think Du Song will win.” Isaiah propped his cheek on his hand.

By now the fight on the field was already intense.

“Spore Rain, Poison Mist.”

At the command, the Spore Spray Mushroom’s cap swelled and suddenly split open, releasing a large cloud of fine spores. At the same time, purple mist rose.

The poison mist obscured much of the view, and as the Crimson Shadow Fox dodged, the spores clinging to its body kept increasing. At a glance, Xu Shengyu seemed to have the upper hand.

But in their exchanges, Isaiah had already seen the telltale signs.

Unlike Du Song, who fought side by side with the Crimson Shadow Fox and entrusted herself completely to it in every movement and action.

“Spore Shield!”

Facing an opponent whose figure he could barely catch, Xu Shengyu looked very calm, but in reality he frequently issued commands for the Spore Spray Mushroom to protect himself.

He even subconsciously retreated when the Crimson Shadow Fox looked about to attack him, even though he had already had the Spore Spray Mushroom construct a shield.

At this moment, the imposing Du Song was in the rear preparing to attack. Looking at the dagger in Du Song’s hand reflecting a cold gleam, Xu Shengyu couldn’t hold it together. He couldn’t muster the slightest intention of engaging and shouted, “Spore Spray Mushroom, abandon the attack! Come back and protect me.”

The Spore Spray Mushroom had no choice but to give up its chance to ram the Crimson Shadow Fox and return to shield Xu Shengyu.

He seemed to have little combat experience and only a vague understanding of what the Spore Mushroom could do against an enemy. The advantage before him was nothing but a mirage.

“Spore Bomb!”

Xu Shengyu stared fixedly at the Crimson Shadow Fox covered in spores and without a second thought gave the Spore Spray Mushroom its command.

The Spore Spray Mushroom shook its body, and the spores on the Crimson Shadow Fox swelled accordingly. The Spore Spray Mushroom’s condition also visibly weakened.

With a “bang,” the spores exploded, the purple mist was dispersed, and the scene revealed made cold sweat pour down Xu Shengyu’s back.

Unharmed—impossible! With that many spores, how could the Crimson Shadow Fox not be badly hurt? Looking closely, what the Spore Bomb had attacked wasn’t the Crimson Shadow Fox at all—just an afterimage.

Suddenly, Du Song, who had somehow vanished from sight, appeared behind Xu Shengyu like a ghost. With a push of her foot she tripped him, and while he was off balance, her fist had already landed.

With the Crimson Shadow Fox eyeing him hungrily nearby, by the time the referee announced Du Song’s victory, Xu Shengyu had already been thoroughly beaten.

The sudden reversal of the battle had many spectators who hadn’t seen the situation clearly discussing it.

“False Clone? I was wondering how Du Song could have released the Crimson Shadow Fox—assassins don’t have it easy in arena battles. So she learned a new skill.”

“Du Song wouldn’t be subdued that easily. That first-year really is careless. His beast is strong—if he hadn’t so rashly blown up all the spores and instead relied on the poison mist’s continuous weakening and the spores’ attacks, he might have actually taken down his opponent. The Spore Spray Mushroom wanted to defend, and the Crimson Shadow Fox would have had a hard time getting in.”

“Come on, the way you put it, I could beat Du Song too if I was just a bit more careful. A beast is only part of a Beast Tamer’s strength.”

Isaiah strongly agreed with this fellow’s view. He didn’t think Beast Tamers only needed to stand in the back and receive protection. In his world, even priests—the humans with the least attack ability who needed others to protect them—wouldn’t be without the ability to resist when danger came. The priests he had encountered, even if they couldn’t kill an enemy, could still drag out a fight for a long time.

But the fact that Xu Shengyu, who clearly came from a good background and had trained his beast early, would be so unconcerned about practicing martial arts showed that this world was very peaceful—at least, war was very far from the general public.

Isaiah smiled. He liked peaceful, tranquil environments.

In the arena, Xu Shengyu was somewhat dazed. He had considered that he might lose, but losing to Du Song so easily—and even a bit pathetically—was unacceptable to him.

“No, no! I was careless just now. Let’s fight again!” Xu Shengyu’s face flushed red as he shouted at Du Song.

“Who has time to play with you? Don’t let me see you bothering my sister again. The young master of the Xu family isn’t a welcher who goes back on his word, is he?” Du Song felt a little better looking at Xu Shengyu’s devastated expression.

Xu Shengyu was speechless. Seeing Du Zhu come down to meet her sister, he still paid attention to his image in front of Du Zhu. He threw out a “I’ll be back!” and walked off, thinking he looked very imposing.

Du Zhu looked soft and plush, but her expression was very cold. “Finally gone.” She really couldn’t understand this person—he hadn’t cared back then, so why come looking for them now?

After watching the excitement, Isaiah headed toward the dormitory. The gloomy-faced Xu Shengyu had been walking ahead of him the whole time. Isaiah hadn’t paid it any mind at first, until they entered the same dormitory.

Xu Shengyu was his roommate?

Isaiah didn’t mind and pushed the door open. Xu Shengyu looked up, saw it was him, and felt even worse. He noticed this was the person who had come out of the arena with him earlier—his roommate had actually seen him lose face.

“Hello, I’m Isaiah. You fought really well—actually managing to exchange blows with a second-year senior.” Isaiah smiled at him friendly.

Xu Shengyu struggled for a moment. Taking his frustration out on this boy who was a head shorter than him and looked cute and well-behaved made him feel like a scumbag—Isaiah was even holding a jelly-like beast as adorable as himself.

Losing wasn’t Isaiah’s fault anyway; he had only lost to an upperclassman. Among students of his own year, his strength should still be unmatched!

Xu Shengyu sorted out his mood and once again restored the somewhat proud and flamboyant manner he’d had at the start. “I’m Xu Shengyu, S-rank earth affinity talent. Since we’re living in the same dorm, we’re friends from now on. If you have trouble, you can come to me.”

Isaiah nodded.

“Is this your beast? I don’t think I’ve seen one like it—kind of like a slime.” Xu Shengyu looked at Little Fire curiously.

“It’s Little Fire. Its race is Slime.”

Xu Shengyu looked very confused. “A new race? How come I’ve never heard of it? Has it been registered?”

“Yes—registered?” Isaiah had never heard that registration was required, and Yu Tian, who had brought him here, hadn’t mentioned it either.

“Ah, it’s normal that you don’t know. Although variants of existing races are countless and no one pays them any mind, new races are taken seriously. Nowadays only the major forces that cultivate new races bother to register new races with the Beast Association. Ordinary people who don’t study beast cultivation probably won’t encounter this their whole lives.” Xu Shengyu’s expression became much more natural as he talked about something he was good at. “My family works with the association, so I know a lot. I can take you to register tomorrow—registering an unknown race earns you some rewards.”

Rewards! Isaiah’s eyes lit up, and he agreed quickly. “Thank you so much!”

“It’s, uh, nothing.” Xu Shengyu had only wanted to show off his family’s influence. Usually disliked by others, this was the first time he had received such sincere and enthusiastic gratitude, and he was somewhat at a loss. But he had indeed taken Isaiah’s matter to heart.