Chapter 751: Heat
Chapter 751: Heat (Combined)
For a moment, the entire venue fell into an eerie silence.
After about two or three seconds, the Announcer's voice, filled with shock, confusion, and disbelief, rang out:
"This, this move is, is Advanced Skill Frost Haven! Iceapura has used Frost Haven! Yes, Iceapura, I just received the information about the mysterious familiar, but that's not important right now. What's important is that Iceapura has used Advanced Skill Frost Haven, a General-Class Beast Companion has used an Advanced Skill!"
"Oh my gosh! This is absolutely the most breathtaking moment I've ever experienced in my career as an announcer!"
"Advanced Skill! Faithwarden has no chance to fight back! Both its Colossal Vine and itself were instantly frozen by Frost Haven!"
"This match is purely a one-man show by Qiao Sang!"
The Announcer, who started out stammering, eventually stood up from his chair, spitting out words with a flushed face, growing more and more excited.
As the Announcer's words trailed off, the venue erupted into a cacophony of noise, the crowd's voices reaching a fever pitch.
"Give me a moment, I need to calm down, damn, I can't calm down at all! Who can tell me why a General-Class Beast Companion would know an Advanced Skill?!"
"Ah! Frost Haven! I actually saw Frost Haven in a star tournament for those 35 and under!"
"Oh my gosh, I thought I was hallucinating!"
"Is it really a General-Class Beast Companion?! I don't believe it!"
The audience, who were somewhat familiar with Beastmaster history, had never heard of a General-Class Beast Companion learning an Advanced Skill, leading to widespread doubt.
"It's true..." In the stands, Dorothy finally broke free from her shock, muttering, "Iceapura, the Water and Ice Attributes General-Class Beast Companion of Blue Star, and it's an endangered familiar..."
"Endangered?" The person next to her gave her a strange look. "How do you know that?"
Dorothy, her gaze fixed on the arena, replied softly, "I'm Qiao Sang's classmate..."
Classmate? The person next to her picked up on the gossip potential. "What school do you go to?"
"Yulinton University." Dorothy answered honestly.
"What? Qiao Sang is a student at Yulinton University!" The person's voice rose sharply.
People around them started to look over.
"Yulinton University? Isn't she a star?"
"No wonder she's so amazing, she's a student at Yulinton University!"
"Students at Yulinton University don't need to be stars, do they?"
"No, isn't the real point that Qiao Sang is definitely over 16 at Yulinton University!"
"Whether she's 16 or not doesn't matter anymore. Just seeing that Frost Haven, I'm completely blown away!"
Dorothy took a deep breath and raised her voice. "She is 16! She skipped grades to come to our Yulinton University and is only in her first year!"
The front row of Area A suddenly fell silent.
The rest of the venue continued to buzz with heated discussion.
In the Contestant Area.
Birit was completely stunned, totally unprepared. This feeling was like when people at school told him: our school has produced a 16-year-old prodigy who has bonded with four familiars, three of which are General-Class Beast Companions, one is an Advanced Familiar, and two of them are even new forms of familiars never seen before.
Or perhaps one day, his son might say to him: Dad, I found my true love in Flame Sky Star. He’s a guy, so I found a Gender Shifter Beast to change my gender. I’m sorry.
That would be quite a shock.
...
On the field.
Lulu watched as everything before her was frozen, her tail involuntarily flicking.
The Mechanical-type Referee flew in from the sidelines, intending to check on Faithwarden's condition.
"Wait!" Qiao Sang noticed the Mechanical-type Referee’s movement and called out to stop it.
The Mechanical-type Referee instinctively halted in its tracks.
"Contestant Qiao Sang stopped the Referee. Why is that?" The Announcer, having calmed down somewhat, continued, "Could it be that Iceapura hasn't fully mastered the Ice Realm and is afraid the Referee might get hurt? How considerate..."
"Colossal Ice Spike!"
The Announcer’s voice cut off abruptly.
"Ice Ai", Lulu called out.
"Bang!!!"
A mountain-like Colossal Ice Spike instantly appeared above Faithwarden, then crashed down on it with a thunderous roar.
The Ice Spike shattered.
The ice covering the entire field disappeared, and the temperature returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
Only Faithwarden, still unconscious and buried under a pile of large ice chunks, testified that everything had indeed occurred.
Qiao Sang calmly nodded at the Mechanical-type Referee, signaling that it could now come over to make the judgment.
Lulu’s energy could only maintain Frost Haven for about 20 seconds. She couldn’t guarantee that the Frost Haven would still be in effect by the time the Referee arrived.
Moreover, a Grass-type Companion might have healing skills. If Faithwarden could hold on and use those skills to recover, Lulu, whose energy was almost depleted, would be at a complete disadvantage.
To avoid that, she needed to decisively defeat Faithwarden within 20 seconds.
Fortunately, within Frost Haven, Lulu was the master of ice. She could freely use any Ice Skills she knew, unlike other Combination Techniques, which required both moves to reach a certain proficiency before they could be seamlessly combined and released.
Frost Haven had a clear advantage, but it also had a drawback: using more Ice Skills during the domain’s maintenance would shorten its duration.
The main issue was still a lack of energy and proficiency.
However, it was enough to deal with a Grass-type Companion of the same level, whose attributes were weak against ice.
"So, it turns out that Contestant Qiao Sang's earlier attack wasn’t over yet", the Announcer said, as if not at all embarrassed, explaining the situation.
The Mechanical-type Referee approached Faithwarden, observed for a moment, then picked up the whistle and blew it.
"The match result is out! Let’s congratulate Contestant Qiao Sang on winning this match and advancing to the next round!" the Announcer exclaimed passionately.
Applause erupted, growing louder and louder until it was like a thunderous roar, deafening to the ears.
...
On the way back.
Birit, who had been holding back for a while, finally couldn’t resist asking, "How did your Iceapura learn Frost Haven?"
"It used an Awakening Orb", Qiao Sang said without hesitation. "It Awakened during its Evolution into Iceapura."
"An Awakening Orb..." Birit was a bit dazed.
If it was an Awakening Orb, it wasn’t impossible...
Historically, there have been familiars that used Awakening Orbs to Awaken Advanced Skills.
However, those familiars were already at the Royal Tier.
For a King-level familiar, being able to Awaken Advanced Skills was a rarity, with only a few known cases throughout history...
General-Class Beast Companion, this is definitely the first time...
Birit resisted the urge to send an email to the Imperial Beastmaster Academy immediately and said, "Go back and rest well. The preliminaries will last two days, and the prodigies will rotate through. If any media outlets want to interview you, turn them down. Don't waste your time on them."
Qiao Sang nodded. "Okay."
...
10:01 PM.
Qiao Sang returned to the villa.
Her match time was in the middle of the schedule, so she didn't stick around to watch the others and managed to get back relatively early.
Dinner had been kept warm, and Qiao Sang ate hastily. She then went to her room, half-reclining on the bed, and took out her mobile phone to contact the Body-Forge Worm to come over early.
As soon as she pulled out her phone, she saw 99+ messages.
Qiao Sang opened them and found that all the messages were asking about her match that evening.
Apart from her classmates from Yulinton University, there were also dozens of messages from her former classmates at Sai Nan High School.
Qiao Sang replied to each one.
Suddenly, she saw a message from Hylis:
【Qiao Sang, you participated in the Beastmaster Star Tournament?!!!】
【Oh my gosh, it’s really you!】
【Oh, oh my gosh! Are you even human! Your Icechill actually Evolved! And it even knows the Advanced Skill Frost Haven!】
【Please reply to me when you see this! You’re trending online! This is the perfect time to promote our Familiar Artifacts brand!】
Trending? Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment and opened the trending page on her mobile phone.
She was surprised to see several entries related to her.
#Beastmaster Star Tournament, Qiao Sang#
#Advanced Skill Frost Haven from a 16-Year-Old Girl#
#How a General-Class Beast Companion Learns Advanced Skills#
#Blue Star, Iceapura#
#Iceapura, Blue Star Endangered Familiar#
#Yulinton University, Qiao Sang#
#16-Year-Old Girl Stuns the Audience#
#Qiao Sang vs. Petra#
#Ghost Ring King#
Qiao Sang was taken aback. She had expected Lulu's Frost Haven to spark some discussion, but she didn't think that in just a couple of hours, there would be so many discussions about her online, and all of them were trending.
Even her school had been dug up... Qiao Sang marveled at the internet's sleuthing abilities and returned to the chat page to type her reply:
【I just got home, how can we promote it? Does your Familiar Artifacts brand have any products yet?】
Hylis seemed to be waiting by the phone and replied instantly:
【Don't worry about the products! My family has always had the entire production chain. The most important thing is that you're very popular right now. This is the best time for the brand to enter the public eye. If you use one of our products in any of your matches, it will definitely go viral!】
Since this involved her future financial situation, Qiao Sang naturally didn't refuse:
【Alright, send me the product.】
Hylis was overjoyed and immediately typed:
【Great! I'll send it to you tomorrow! I'll also send an Artificer to teach you how to use it.】
Qiao Sang thought for a moment and politely declined:
【That's too much trouble. Just send me the instructions and a usage video.】
Hylis replied instantly again:
【Sure, whatever you say!】
Qiao Sang didn't reply further and pondered for a moment.
She would eventually return to Blue Star, and taking advantage of her current popularity to help her future career would be beneficial.
Yuna ran a Companion Club, and all she had to do was put her name on it.
Owen works at the Purebred Companion Base, so she can't help much.
On the other hand, Wen Xiao is involved in the Companion Beauty Salon business.
If I take the opportunity to visit while I'm still participating in the Beastmaster Star Tournament, it should bring some attention to her Companion Beauty Salon...
With this thought, Qiao Sang didn't hesitate. She scrolled through the chat interface and quickly found Wen Xiao.
Wen Xiao had also sent a message tonight.
Qiao Sang opened it.
The message was about how she managed to participate in the Beastmaster Star Tournament.
Qiao Sang got straight to the point: [Is your Companion Beauty Salon up and running yet?]
Wen Xiao was a bit surprised by Qiao Sang's sudden question and instinctively typed: [Ah, not yet...]
But the next second, she realized something, her eyes lit up, and she sat up straight on the bed, retracting her message and sending a new one:
[You want to use the tournament's popularity to promote the Companion Beauty Salon?]
Qiao Sang: [Exactly.]
Wen Xiao: [Not open yet, but I can open it immediately.]
Qiao Sang: [How soon is immediately?]
Wen Xiao: [Three days. I was originally planning to find a good location, but now I'll just buy a ready-to-use store. Everything will be temporary, but once the name is out there, people will still come looking even if I move the location later.]
No wonder she's from a wealthy family; even a temporary store is bought outright... Qiao Sang typed her reply:
[Alright, once everything is set up, send me the address.]
Wen Xiao: [No problem!]
Qiao Sang finished replying to most of the messages, put down her phone, and turned to see Fangy staring at her with a pouting face.
"What's wrong?" Qiao Sang was taken aback.
To be honest, she hadn't seen Fangy make that face in a long time.
"Ya Ya?"
Fangy called out, wondering why it wasn't allowed to participate in the evening match.
It's about that, I thought it was something else... Taking advantage of Lulu being out training, Qiao Sang said, "Isn't it true that the tougher opponents are always in the later rounds? I thought it would be better for you to compete in the later days."
"Ya Fangy"
Fangy thought about it and realized it made sense. Past matches were similar.
"Are you not sleepy yet?" Qiao Sang saw Fangy's expression soften and changed the subject.
"Fangy" Hearing this, Fangy suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness.
It yawned and called out, indicating it was sleepy and ready to sleep.
It then jumped onto the bed, found a comfortable spot, closed its eyes, and was soon fast asleep.
"Steel Slash."
At this moment, Steel Treasure, who had been quiet in the room, called out.
What about it?
Qiao Sang: "…"
Qiao Sang patiently replied, "The tournament will last several more days, and it will be your turn eventually."
As she spoke, she suddenly thought of something and said, surprised:
"Do you like the matches?"
"Steel Slash."
Steel Treasure shook its head.
It didn't really have a preference; it just knew that matches meant battles, and battles meant getting stronger.
6... Qiao Sang suddenly felt she needed to work harder, just like her familiar. She immediately opened the contact for Body-Forge Wormbeastmaster and made an appointment for a little later.
...
The next morning.
Qiao Sang woke up on time, washed up quickly, and went to the living room.
When she saw the figure bustling in the kitchen, she was momentarily stunned, then exclaimed in surprise, "Vice Principal, you're actually home!"
Liu Yao turned around and smiled.
"The books you brought were very helpful, saving me a lot of time, so I don't need to be out for long stretches anymore."
Qiao Sang smiled and said, "I'm glad they were useful. You could have told me what you needed; even if I didn't know, I could have asked the mentors."
Liu Yao smiled but didn't continue on that topic. Instead, she asked:
"You're participating in the Beastmaster Star Tournament?"
(End of Chapter)
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