Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Tiange Academy was victorious in its last match, just as Gao Peng had predicted. In fact, everyone had expected Tiange Academy to win. Many eyebrows would have been raised if it had been defeated. If his school actually lost that match, Gao Peng would probably have rewatched every piece of footage in order to find any signs of foul play.
Tiange Academy’s victory was not at all surprising, since it had won eighth place the year before, while Bazhong High school had ended up in 27th place. The latter had simply been out of Tiange Academy’s league to begin with.
As he had only just returned from the Black Fog World, he was still unclear as to how the championship was held. “So these five will be representing our school in this year’s event?” he had asked the vice principal.
Gao Peng had watched the footage of last year’s event beforehand. The teams who had managed to advance to the quarterfinals all had at least one Lord-tier trainer. Tiange Academy had also had one Lord-tier trainer. Gao Peng had personally met him a few days ago. His name was Li Junzong.
Even last year, Tiange Academy had been in a position to enter the semifinals.
Teacher Guan had been especially fearsome, its entire body as tough as steel. It could cut down almost anything with one swing of its crescent blade. If Tiange Academy hadn’t been matched with who would eventually be the champions, Huawu High School, it would have secured a spot in the semifinals.
Not only had Teacher Guan been defeated by Huawu’s seeded participant, Chen Zhantang, and his familiar, the Mystic-Eyed Kong, it’d had its limbs brutally torn off by the latter.
Despite receiving treatment from a Healer-type familiar after its loss, Teacher Guan didn’t completely recover from its physical and psychological injuries. This resulted in a drop in its performance for the remainder of the event.
Gao Peng was somewhat impressed by all of this. Some of these people already had their own Lord-tier familiars, which was a huge improvement compared to him at that age.
Back then, there wasn’t a single Lord-tier trainer in the Huaxia region. Now, Lord-tier trainers seemed to have popped up everywhere. Last year saw the number of Lord-tier trainers approaching double digits, with the total number of Lord-tier familiars at a solid nine. Whether there would be more of them this year was anybody’s guess.
Gao Peng wondered if all the other schools back then were simply biding their time until one of their students was able to raise a proper Lord-tier familiar. This would be a sensible decision on their part, as they would be in a better position to take on their competition with at least one Lord-tier trainer on their team.
In the latter half of the event, the real battles would be fought by the students’ Lord-tier familiars, the trump cards of their respective teams. It was never wise to reveal them early in the event, as that would give other participants enough time to formulate strategies against them later on. The longer the students could keep their ace familiars under wraps, the longer they would be able to maintain the element of surprise.
“We have an extremely talented student this year, Principal Gao. Her name is Cao Huan. Not only is she the trainer of a Lord-tier familiar from our school, she also has the Monster Sunflower as a familiar.”
Gao Peng wouldn’t have known that there was such a problematic student in his own school if the dean hadn’t said anything to him.
Cao Huan was a student with a problematic past. She was an orphan who had been taken in by the school’s admission officer from the Tibet region. She was found in the middle of a city ravaged by monsters. The admission officer had brought back the city’s remaining survivors with him, the adults brought to recruitment agencies in the city, while the children were admitted into Tiange Academy.
Cao Huan had inherited the straightforwardness that was inherent in most Tibetans. She responded to every deed and misdeed that was done to her in kind. As she felt indebted to the Southern Sky Group for taking her in, she rarely, if ever, lashed out at her teachers in school. Cao Huan was extremely diligent in her studies, even more so when it came to her monster training lessons, possibly due to the fact that she had personally witnessed the destruction of her home by monsters.
However, Cao Huan was a lone wolf. Her quiet nature didn’t earn her many friends. She would always be seen coming to and leaving school by herself.
Cao Huan of Class 6 was called into the office one day, where Gao Peng met the “problem” student for the first time. She had a short stature, with black hair falling to her shoulders. Her red face gave Gao Peng the impression of a tomato.
Clad in a form-fitting uniform, she stood before the principal of the school, head drooped low as if she had no intention of speaking to anyone at that moment.
“Cao Huan, may I take a look at your familiars?” Before meeting Cao Huan in person, Gao Peng’d had no idea that she was a girl. Her name hadn’t given any indication of her gender.
Cao Huan timidly raised her head before letting it drop back down again.
A sound like the buzzing of a fly seemed to be coming out of her nostrils. If Gao Peng hadn’t been paying close attention to her, he wouldn’t have heard it at all.
They then walked to the mountain at the back of the school. This was where the students’ familiars were kept. Cao Huan seemed to be quite familiar with this side of the school.
At the peak of the mountain, Gao Peng finally saw Cao Huan’s Lord-tier familiar—the Stormcloud Sparrow.
Standing 16 feet tall, it had a rather round body, with a yellow abdomen and white cloud-shaped marks across its wings.
[Monster Name]: Stormcloud Sparrow
[Monster Tier]: Level 42
[Monster Grade]: Excellent/Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Cloud
[Monster Ability]: Cloud Control Level 1, Steel Feathers Level 1
[Monster Weakness]: Fire/Wind
[Monster Description]: A monster that can usually be found in the cold highlands. A fierce creature, it prefers eating its prey alive. Its favorite food is the Tundra Ermine. It hates high temperatures.
[Advancement to Epic Grade]: 1. Sky Sparrow 2. Nine-headed Hellsparrow 3. Lion-hearted Silversparrow
Gao Peng looked at the Stormcloud Sparrow closely. The corners of his mouth curved upwards in a smile. It seemed almost pleasant to touch. Its spherical body reminded Gao Peng of a puffy cloud with wings attached to it. Before his fingers reached the bird, Cao Huan whispered to him, “Mr. Principal, she doesn’t like to be touched. She has a bit of a temper…”
Her voice trailed off as she watched Gao Peng place his hand on the Stormcloud Sparrow’s body.
Although it tried, the Stormcloud Sparrow couldn’t wriggle its way out from under Gao Peng’s hand, which seemed to weigh down on it like a mountain.
Cao Huan stared at Gao Peng’s hand for a moment, before redirecting her attention to his face.
She wanted to ask Gao Peng how he was keeping her familiar restrained with just one hand. As her quiet nature forbade her from asking too many questions, she simply kept as quiet as a mouse beside him.
Gao Peng kept his hand pressed down on the bird while waiting for any questions Cao Huan had for him. When he received none, he pulled his hand back, somewhat disappointed.
“You’re probably wondering how I was able to keep your familiar pressed down with just one hand. It’s quite simple. Some of my familiars, they like to let me hug them. What I’m trying to say here is, intimate contact is one way into your familiar’s heart.”
After ruminating on Gao Peng’s words for a while, Cao Huan said, “So what you’re saying is, I should try to hug it as much as I can.”
“No, I’m saying you’ll be able to do that once your familiar reaches a high enough level.”
Cao Huan raised an eyebrow.
When she finally understood what Gao Peng meant, she raised her head and said softly, “Mr. Principal… I heard that you were the number one monster trainer in the world back then.”
Gao Peng looked at her strangely. “What about it?”
“Some of the students and teachers said that you were the best.”
Gao Peng casually replied, “I wouldn’t say the best. I know my own limitations. You must never forget that there will always be someone out there who’s better than you and that you should always do everything you can to be the best possible version of yourself.”
He then asked Cao Huan, “What kind of sparrows do you like? White, black, or silver with a lion’s mane?”
Cao Huan thought about this for a moment. She eventually replied, “White. I like the kind of white you see in clouds.”
