Chapter 17: The Opportunity to Go to the Spirit Realm

The little lion dog could be said to be suffering in silence; the moment it bit the back of the Blazing Flame Fox, it felt that something was wrong.

The sensation of biting down was like gnawing on a hard steel plate, utterly rigid, as if its own teeth were about to shatter.

Could this Blazing Flame Fox have turned into a Steel Serpent?

Moreover, the flames wrapped around its teeth could not inflict any harm on the Blazing Flame Fox!

The next second, it felt a sharp pain in its back.

"After taking a Flame Teeth from the little lion dog, the Blazing Flame Fox did not lose its fighting ability but instead began to counterattack with Thunderclaw!"

The announcer raised his voice in the arena.

As three bloody marks were scratched out, a purple arc burst forth, and a terrifying current instantly penetrated the little lion dog's entire body, rendering it immobile!

Under the dual boost of [Weak Opposing Strong] + [Food Hunter], the power of this strike, Thunderclaw, had reached Transcendent strength.

The little lion dog was blasted several meters away. Just as it struggled to stand, the previously motionless Blazing Flame Fox transformed into the most agile predator, appearing right before it and mercilessly swinging another Thunderclaw at it.

"You lost."

Chen Mo said calmly.

After two seconds of silence, the audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Before the match, no one expected the Awakened 7th Rank Blazing Flame Fox to defeat the Transcendent 1-stage little lion dog.

But in less than two minutes, they were proven wrong.

In the stands, two girls wearing JK uniforms were whispering to each other.

"The Blazing Flame Fox is using all electric-type moves; could it be an Awakened Spiritual Beast? No wonder it can defeat opponents of a higher level."

One girl in black stockings said softly.

"Awakened Spiritual Beasts only have high potential; their early combat power shouldn't be this exaggerated! Senpai, didn't you notice that the Blazing Flame Fox wasn't affected at all when bitten by the little lion dog's Flame Teeth? That's almost impossible!"

The girl in white stockings said, puzzled.

"Never mind that, Qianqian, the Spirit Master of the Blazing Flame Fox looks quite young too; he should also be a high school student, right? How come I've never heard of such a handsome guy?"

"Senpai, he... he seems to be from our high school, and in the same year as me. His name is Chen Mo. Because he's handsome, I have a bit of an impression."

"From our high school? How come I've never heard of such an amazing junior from our school before!"

The senpai in black stockings with round-frame glasses said, somewhat regretfully.

Handsome, with a good-looking Spiritual Beast, and strong to boot. Not discovering this treasure of a junior earlier and having a sweet romance is truly a pity.

Wait, maybe... it's not too late now!

Watching the senpai, who seemed to be starting to have a crush, Qianqian felt a bit speechless, though she was also a little curious inside.

If she remembered correctly, this boy named Chen Mo was a student in the advanced class and hadn't even opened a Spiritual Space before the summer break.

So she posted the video of the match she just recorded in the class group chat...

After the match ended, Chen Mo did not leave but took the Blazing Flame Fox to watch other competitors' matches, wanting to see which ones were strong.

After watching most of the matches, Chen Mo realized that his dream of winning the championship was pretty much over.

There's a cheat!

In his view, there were three seed players in this competition.

Two of them had just graduated this year and were prospective university students. Their Spiritual Beasts were a Transcendent 4th Rank Poison Powder Butterfly and a Transcendent 3-tier Dawn Feather Crow.

Another one was a university student who came home for a vacation during the summer break and participated in the competition before leaving; his Spiritual Beast was a Transcendent 5th Rank Wind Hunting Falcon.

Transcendent 5-stage, such strength isn't weak even among top Spirit University students.

Damn, a university student still competing in the "Baby Cup" is really shameless!

"Since there's no hope for the championship, I hope I get a bit lucky next and line up against weaker opponents, then muddle through to the finals; getting the 10K consolation prize wouldn't be bad either."

"Chirp~"

However, knowing he's not going to win the championship, Chen Mo felt a lot more relaxed instead.

After finishing watching the matches, when he was about to go eat, he found that there were many unread messages on his phone.

"Chen Mo, is this really you? (video)"

"Brother Mo, your Blazing Flame Fox is too awesome!"

"Brother Mo, where did you contract your Blazing Flame Fox?"

...

Most of them were from Chen Mo's high school classmates. It should be that someone recorded the battle video of the Blazing Flame Fox and uploaded it to the class group. Then it got passed around, and almost the entire school knew about it.

Chen Mo did not intend to reply.

Originally, he was a fringe figure in the class because he was busy with part-time jobs and meditation and barely had any interaction with the other classmates.

Rejecting ineffective socializing.

However, with a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder, he still cleared the little red dots on the messages one by one.

While clicking on the little red dots, he found a message from the class teacher—

"Chen Mo, if you have already opened a Spiritual Space and contracted a Spiritual Beast, try to fill out the form to join the experimental class early. There's a Spirit Realm training activity at the beginning of next semester."

The class teacher also thoughtfully attached a form for transferring classes.

In the current Spirit Era, all high school students in Dongxia face the problem of choosing subjects during their sophomore year: whether to go to the cultural department or the Spirit Manipulation Department.

Students who do not intend or have no hope of pursuing a Spirit Master path will choose the cultural department, where very little Spirit Beast-related knowledge is taught, essentially cutting off the road to becoming a Spirit Master.

Whereas in the Spirit Manipulation Department, like most other high schools, Shenghai City First High School divides the classes into three levels based on student performance.

The experimental class is the best. In addition to passing all cultural subjects, the growth level of the students' Spiritual Beasts is generally above the Awakened 4th Rank.

The optional class is next, intended for students who have not long opened a Spiritual Space and just contracted a Spiritual Beast.

The advanced class is for students who have not yet opened a Spiritual Space but are committed to pursuing a career as a Spirit Master or in related fields.

Chen Mo was previously a student in the advanced class.

"Thank you, teacher. I will fill it out as soon as possible."

Chen Mo replied.

Naturally, he wouldn't refuse to enter the experimental class.

Not only for this opportunity to venture into the Spirit Realm, but also because it's said that joining the experimental class waives all tuition fees, and the school provides some extra resource subsidies.

Why refuse when you can enjoy for free?

For the round of 16 in the afternoon, Chen Mo got lucky and drew an opponent that was an Awakened 9th Rank Electric Mouse.

Chen Mo had seen this kind of Spirit Beast, which would bristle in anger, many times at the Thunderbolt Daoist School; its combat strength wasn't strong.

And Xiao Jiu, equipped with the [Thunderbolt King] entry, feared Electric Type Spiritual Beasts the least.

Even if the Electric Mouse unleashed its strongest strike, it would still feel like a gentle scratch to the Blazing Flame Fox, unable to inflict any harm, and in the end, it could only concede in despair.

In this manner, Chen Mo successfully advanced to the top 8 for the next day.

Also making him the only Awakened Stage Spirit Beast user among the top 8 finalists of the Chicks Cup.

After the afternoon competition ended, it was still early, so Chen Mo returned to the Thunderbolt Daoist School to practice a bit more.

At the entrance, he happened to run into She Pili.

"Junior Brother Chen, you're back so early. How did the match go?"

She Pili asked.

"Made it to the round of 16; tomorrow's the match for the top 8."

"No worries, young people should experience more. Wait, did you say you made it to the top 8?"

She Pili had been ready to offer some comfort to the junior brother, only to realize Chen Mo said he advanced to the top 8.

"Your Xiao Jiu is only at Awakened 7th Rank, right? Could it be that this year's Chicks Cup isn't very high in quality?"

The Chicks Cup is held annually. He had participated last year and, after a tough battle, only managed to secure the second place; at that time his Thunder Qilin Turtle was already at Extraordinary 4th Rank.

The top 8 still had some significant competition value; most were successors of Daoist Schools or second-generation Spirit Masters.

"Maybe... Jiu Bao has a little bit of combat talent?"

Chen Mo said uncertainly.