You call this beast taming?

The flame of life!

In the Pokémon world, it is the sacred flame originating from the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh.

It can cause horrific destruction, yet it can also allow life to be reborn from the ashes!

Although there is no Ho-Oh in this world, it still possesses life energy.

For example, some of the ghostly supernatural creatures that broke into the city feed on the life energy of living beings.

However, there seems to be no precise definition of what form or nature life energy actually takes.

And now.

Erliang actually said that it could smell a trace of life energy in its own flames!

Is it only the master-level "Flame of Fire" that can be activated, or... can any flame be activated by Erliang?

Wen Zhixu retrieved the "Rainbow Feather".

He sensed the change as soon as he got his hands on it.

The feathers had become somewhat dull.

Although the changes seem minor, and it remains a vibrant, colorful sight, his senses are becoming increasingly clear.

Did Erliang... absorb some of his original energy?

"Two ounces." Putting the feather back, Wen Zhixu squatted down and asked, "If you don't use 'Fang of Fire,' can you mobilize your life energy?"

"Huh?"

He blinked twice and scratched his head with his hind leg.

No, that won't work.

"What if we just use a little fire, without any skills?" Wen Zhixu asked again.

"Waaah~"

The little guy opened his mouth slightly, and a tiny flame appeared.

As Erliang's proficiency with the "Fang of Fire" skill increased, he also became more adept at using fire-attribute energy.

Even without using any special skills, it can now breathe out small flames.

The damage is negligible; you can still light a fire during a picnic.

However, it quickly shook its head again.

Or not.

Upon seeing this, Wen Zhixu made some judgments in his mind.

obviously.

Although Erliang has now gained some life energy and integrated it into his own flames, he doesn't know how to use it. It's more like a subconscious behavior when "Fang of Fire" is upgraded to master level proficiency.

and.

The life energy in flames must be very thin.

Otherwise, the little guy wouldn't have doubted whether he had smelled the wrong thing.

But in any case, this is a good start.

Once it happens the first time, it will happen again and again...

By continuing to carry the "Rainbow Feather," it may be able to continuously acquire more life energy until it learns to use it skillfully.

If the system grants me the skill "Holy Fire" at that time, Erliang might be able to soar to the heavens!

However, Wen Zhixu still had a question in his mind.

Why was Erliang able to sense the aura of life energy even before obtaining the "Rainbow Feather"?

When did it come into contact with this energy?

Before making a contract with oneself?

"We need to figure out first what exactly life energy is..."

But how do we figure it out?

It seems that he doesn't even know much about his own teacher, Yang Pingjiang.

"never mind...."

Putting aside your doubts for now is a good thing, or rather, a good sign.

The "Fire Stone" lasts for eight hours and is still effective. It's a second-class resource worth 20,000, so it shouldn't be wasted.

After giving Erliang a little something to tide him over, we proceeded with the final reinforcement exercises.

He then gave a brief summary of Erliang's training results during this period.

Master-level "Fang of Fire", Proficient-level "Heavy Fur", Skilled-level "Morning Light", "Super Smell", and "Headbutt".

A total of 5 "Mastery Seeds" were consumed: 1 blue quality seed, 1 green quality seed, 3 white quality seeds, and 1 white quality seed remaining.

Huge improvement!

Remarkable results!

...

The next day.

After school, Wen Zhixu, with Erliang in excellent condition, returned to the training base and found Gong Yunzhou, who was in charge of the base.

"Would you like to take on the 'Adventure Challenge'?"

Gong Yunzhou didn't seem surprised after hearing Wen Zhixu's words.

It's not just the Pingjiang training base; in fact, most well-known training bases across the country have similar "challenge battles."

On the one hand, it can be used to test the abilities of trainees or students.

On the other hand, it is used to deter some unnecessary challengers.

Pet training bases are essentially similar to martial arts schools. To recruit more students, building a reputation is the most important step, so there are no shortage of challengers.

But if every challenger who comes to the training base has to be fought by the owner or person in charge, that would be too troublesome.

Therefore, similar "challenge" projects will be set up to screen challengers.

Of course, another purpose is to showcase the training base's unique features, such as its distinctive skills and techniques, and its unique methods for raising pets.

In addition, if trainees at the training base want to attract attention and get noticed by the base manager or even the base owner, this is also a good option.

For example, some training bases set up rewards for students based on the number of levels they pass. If a student passes a sufficiently high level, they may even be accepted as a student by the guild leader.

However, this is not the case at the Pingjiang training base, because Yang Pingjiang accepts students entirely on his own.

Wen Zhixu only learned about this project after becoming Yang Pingjiang's student and having more contact with his senior, Gong Yunzhou.

So he was very fortunate.

He thought he had exploited a loophole in the system for the "Challenge the Gym" mission, but little did he know... the loophole was much larger than he had imagined.

If he followed the normal procedure, he would have to pass the "challenge battle" first, and then defeat one or more senior brothers and sisters before he would be qualified to challenge Yang Pingjiang.

This is difficult...

No wonder the system reacted so "reluctantly" at the time.

"I thought you would come back after a while, at least... three or four months."

Gong Yunzhou was not surprised, because he had also taken on the "challenge battle" before.

Not only him, Ye Qingzhu also took the challenge, and even several senior brothers and sisters, Ge Jun, Ruan Xun, and Lan Yifeng, all took the challenge.

They were all young beast tamers, and who wouldn't want to test just how far their pets had come?

The challenge mode is undoubtedly a great place to test yourself and your pet.

"That's right, I want to give it a try." Wen Zhixu said, holding two ounces of food.

Gong Yunzhou nodded, "I understand, I understand, I'll make the arrangements."

Outsiders, or ordinary students, who want to take on the challenge will have to pay a fee.

After all, if the pets in the challenge battles get injured, they need to be treated, and raising these pets also consumes the training base's funds.

However, as Yang Pingjiang's student, there was no such requirement.

...

"Hey, did you hear? Senior Brother Wen is going to take on the challenge."

"Young Master Xu? Didn't he only recently become Master Yang's disciple?"

"I heard that his pet is a golden-maned dog, which is only in the late stage of mutation."

"I really don't understand what Master Yang values ​​in someone who uses a Golden Mane Hound as their starting pet..."

"In the later stages of the mutation, I bet he won't make it past the fourth level!"

"A fourth level? You're underestimating the challenges at our Pingjiang training base! I'll name it: the third level!"

In an instant, the trainees at the Pingjiang training base who heard the news all gathered towards the challenge battlefield and began to discuss it.

Among them were quite a few people who were envious and jealous of Wen Zhixu being taken in as a student by Yang Pingjiang.

There are also people who don't usually show their true colors, but are secretly jealous and want to see a good show.

Of course, there are also people who feel that Wen Zhixu has some merit and are curious about him.

Some people wanted to see how many levels he and his pet could get through, while others simply wanted to see which level he would fail at.

Naturally, some voices reached Wen Zhixu and Erliang's ears.

"Ugh! |ू•ૅω•́)ᵎᵎᵎ"

Erliang got very angry and wanted to remember the faces of those who showed their true colors.

"Ignore them." Even Gong Yunzhou, who is in charge of managing the base's operations, can't control people's hearts.

Wen Zhixu comforted Erliang and said with a smile, "I never paid attention to it."

They're just people who like to eat lemons, as if everyone has eaten them before.

I wonder if this time, they've been holding back a big one...