Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

Qiao Sang arrived at Zone C, Row 9.

Bai Yunmiao also signed up for this Hundred New Competition and successfully passed the preliminaries.

The two who had both advanced in the preliminaries arranged to meet.

“Genius Qiao, I found out that the contestants who passed the preliminaries will have their names randomly shuffled on the big screen, and those paired together will form a group.” Bai Yunmiao explained, pointing to the screen above the arena.

Since learning Qiao Sang’s name, Bai Yunmiao had taken to calling her Genius Qiao online.

Qiao Sang nodded, this kind of random matchup is common in competitions.

“Why are you dressed so… nicely today?” Qiao Sang asked.

More accurately, she looked quite glamorous.

Bai Yunmiao was sitting elegantly, fully made up, wearing a little black dress paired with bright-colored high heels, like she was ready for a formal event.

“I want to look good on camera. I watched the replay from yesterday online, and it was just a disaster; they made me look so ugly, it didn’t capture even a third of my beauty.” Bai Yunmiao complained.

Indeed, without filters, live broadcasts can sometimes feel like a mirror of truth.

She continued, “Besides, with half the contestants gone today, I feel like I have a good chance of being interviewed.”

Interview…

Qiao Sang thought back to the earlier incident and felt a lump in her throat, not wanting to speak anymore...

---

In the arena, Qiao Sang unexpectedly spotted someone she recognized among the contestants in the ninth group—Dai Shushu.

If she hadn\'t seen her here, Qiao Sang might have almost forgotten about her...

Dai Shushu’s beast wasn’t one of the five popular choices for novice Beast Tamers but a Water Shrimp.

Water-type beasts aren’t all amphibious extraordinary creatures; even those that can move freely on land can rarely unleash their full potential due to space constraints.

Thus, very few Beast Tamers are willing to choose a water-type beast as their first contract.

Qiao Sang couldn\'t help but watch carefully.

She couldn\'t deny that, deep down, she still considered Dai Shushu a rival.

56 seconds later.

“Chen Cheng wins.”

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment.

This was nothing like what she expected!

She hadn’t even started analyzing Dai Shushu and the Water Shrimp’s combat level before the match was over!

The opponent’s beast, a fat dove, landed two hits on the Water Shrimp, knocking it out of combat. It was an utterly mundane preliminary match!

Was Dai Shushu really that weak?!

Qiao Sang felt a bit dazed.

Why had she considered Dai Shushu a formidable opponent back then…?

Qiao Sang tried to recall.

At that time, they both had self-awakened; the difference was...

Cultural scores... Cultural scores, indeed... Dai Shushu was still a formidable rival…

As efficient as yesterday, within an hour, the list of all the selected contestants was logged into the system.

The large screen above the arena was filled with photos of contestants that rapidly jumbled together.

Six seconds later.

The photos froze.

All the matchups were arranged, and Qiao Sang saw her opponent among them.

The person in the photo had small, green bean-like eyes and a slightly receding hairline, with a face that looked older than their actual age.

Xie Jianyin.

Qiao Sang recognized him at a glance; he was one of the 21 Beast Tamers she had noted in her memo.

Good luck! Her hard work studying wasn’t wasted...

The competition to advance to the top 64 soon commenced.

Those who passed the preliminaries were slightly more skilled than those eliminated, so the match duration increased, going from a one-minute game to two or three minutes to determine the winner.

“Who do you think has the better chance of winning in the match between Qiao Sang and Xie Jianyin?” The middle-aged commentator with slicked-back hair asked San Duo.

On the field, Qiao Sang and Xie Jianyin had both taken their positions.

As a member of the third group, Qiao Sang had come to the backstage when the first group’s match began.

It was indeed her turn next...

“Xie Jianyin has been an F-level Beast Tamer for three years, so he has a clear advantage over Qiao Sang in both experience and strength.” San Duo offered his insights.

“What a pity that so many contestants had to face someone with an intermediate beast.”

“I remember Xie Jianyin’s beast is a Long-tailed Snake.”

“Just thinking about such a pretty little girl losing to such an ugly man makes my heart ache.”

“He’s only 18, he’s still a boy.”

The audience began to murmur, mostly voicing support for Qiao Sang.

Although strength is paramount now, everyone still tends to support the more visually appealing contestants when all are F-level Beast Tamers.

Moreover, everyone remembered Qiao Sang’s fire-type beast, the Fire Fang Dog, as it was the only fire-type beast to appear in the Hundred New Competition.

---

As the referee issued the command to summon beasts, a gray star array lit up in front of Xie Jianyin.

The energy within the Fire Fang Dog was building up, and it quickly prepared itself.

Last night, it had spent a long time strategizing with its Beastmaster deciding on tactics for various opponents.

Now, it just needed to wait for that black creature to appear...

Within the gray star array, a fully red beast with an oval-shaped head and a black stripe running from its head to its tail appeared.

Huh? Why isn’t it that black creature?

The Fire Fang Dog was confused.

This wasn’t what its Beastmaster had described.

Qiao Sang was speechless looking at the opponent’s beast.

A Fire Chain Snake, a beginner fire-type beast.

She had spent a long time studying the intermediate Long-tailed Snake yesterday, and he had sent out a basic fire-type beast to face her?

Knowing that she only had one Fire Fang Dog, he still sent out a beast of the same attribute.

This was clearly looking down on the Fire Fang Dog...

Xie Jianyin indeed didn’t regard the Fire Fang Dog highly; to be precise, he didn’t regard Qiao Sang highly.

His second beast, the Fire Chain Snake, had been contracted for two months.

As a Beast Tamer with two contracted beasts, he planned to rotate both in the match!

For a middle school graduate who had just contracted their first beast, it was more than sufficient to summon any of his beasts to deal with her.

As soon as the referee declared the start, Qiao Sang immediately issued the command to proceed according to the original plan.

Simultaneously, Xie Jianyin also commanded his beast to unleash a flame jet.

The Fire Fang Dog had already been gathering energy within its body.

Thus, it released its skill faster than the Fire Chain Snake.

Outside the arena.

“This is the minor success level of Ember!” The commentator exclaimed.

Just as the flame jet from the Fire Chain Snake finished gathering and hadn’t even launched ten centimeters, the Ember from the Fire Fang Dog charged straight toward the flame jet.

The two forces collided, creating a violent explosion.

At the center of the explosion, the Fire Chain Snake was violently tossed back.

“Chain!!!”

The Fire Fang Dog ignored that the Fire Chain Snake had fallen to the ground and instantly created four shadow clones, preparing to surround the opponent.

Following the tactic it had developed with its Beastmaster yesterday, it first used two clones to confuse the opponent while the real body and another clone...

“Qiao Sang wins!” The referee announced.

“Yap?”

The Fire Fang Dog’s clones, which had yet to complete the encirclement, all froze in place.

Did we win?