What does it mean when a pet evolves incorrectly?

The training room is more lively during lunch break than at any other time.

This spacious area can be used not only as a training ground but also converted into a qualified battlefield at any time.

The institute has always encouraged employees to engage in appropriate practical training, believing that this helps maintain combat effectiveness, identify shortcomings, and improve teamwork.

Unfortunately, the work at the grassroots level is busy and trivial, and there are not many staff members who are willing to spend time sweating in the training room, let alone engage in battles that require more energy and focus.

But today is different.

As Lin Chen and Li Heng entered the training room one after the other, the news spread like wildfire throughout the detention center's small building during lunch break.

In this world, battles between pets are always eye-catching, especially when both sides are rookies who are apprentice beast tamers.

As a result, the heavy soundproof door to the training room was frequently pushed open and closed.

Groups of two or three employees came in carrying their unfinished lunchboxes. Some leaned against the equipment against the wall, some sat cross-legged on the cushions at the edge of the venue, and others held thermos cups and stood in a corner with a good view.

One side of the venue.

Li Heng glanced at Lin Chen directly in front of him, a smirk playing on his lips, and snapped his fingers crisply.

"Brother Chen, look closely! This is my partner."

He communicated with the Beast Taming Space with his thoughts, and white summoning light quickly appeared in front of him.

As the light faded, a pet beast, not particularly large in size but with a sturdy build and exuding power, appeared in the arena.

This pet is nearly two meters long, and its body is covered with thick, dark gray armor plates with sharp edges.

The seams of the shell have a rough texture and a matte finish under the bright lights of the training room, giving it an extremely sturdy feel.

Its limbs are short and powerful, with broad claws that grip the ground firmly.

Its head is triangular, with a pointed snout, and a pair of yellow eyes set in helmet-like sockets, with a calm gaze.

Its tail is not long, but the end swells into a round rock block with a surface covered with fine bumps, looking like a natural rock hammer.

Lin Chen's gaze quickly swept over the pet beast, and the relevant knowledge in his mind was immediately mobilized.

Race Name: Stone Armored Lizard

Property: Rock

Race level: High-level extraordinary.

"Rock type, advanced transcendent." Lin Chen's eyes flickered slightly as he pondered to himself.

The Stone Armored Lizard has a clear advantage in attributes over the Flameclaw Beast, and its racial level is also higher than that of the Flameclaw Beast. Winning this battle against a beast of the same level will not be an easy task.

But he had to complete this task.

With a thought flashing through his mind, Lin Chen summoned the Flame Claw Beast.

"Gaku~"

The Flameclaw Beast made a grand entrance, its neck fur slightly bristling, its deep green eyes fixed on the Stone Armored Lizard opposite it, and a low growl emanating from its throat.

Immediately, it turned to look at Lin Chen, extended its paw, and made a throat-slitting gesture: "Gag?"

Lin Chen shook his head.

The Flameclaw Beast nodded knowingly; this meant the Beastmaster wanted him to spare his opponent's life.

The light from the overhead lights in the training room shone evenly, illuminating the temporary battle area as bright as day, and also reflecting the focused and determined faces of the two apprentice beast tamers at both ends of the arena.

Zhang Zhi mingled in the crowd, overhearing his colleagues' hushed conversations:

"Li is still willing to part with it. This is a high-level, extraordinary Stone Armored Lizard. I remember it costs at least 150,000 on the market."

"more than."

"Rock vs. Fire, high-level vs. mid-level, Flameclaw is in danger."

"As long as the skill levels of the two beast tamers are similar, the Stone Armored Lizard will definitely win."

Listening to these discussions, Zhang Zhi's gaze swept back and forth between the Stone Armored Lizard and the Flame Claw Beast, quickly weighing the options in his mind.

He admitted that Lin Chen's mental fortitude and command awareness far surpassed those of the average newcomer, but in terms of the pet itself, the Flame Claw Beast was at a significant disadvantage.

With the Stone Armored Lizard's defenses so strong, whether the Flameclaw Beast's flames can effectively penetrate them is a big question.

Once the Stone Armored Lizard gets close, the Flameclaw Beast, with its physique, will find it difficult to directly withstand its terrifying impact and its rock-hammer-like tail.

"What do you think, Xiao Zhang?"

Old Liu, who was leisurely sipping his tea nearby, suddenly spoke up. His voice wasn't loud, but it reached Zhang Zhi's ears clearly: "Can the newcomer you're rooting for win?"

Zhang Zhi pursed his lips, his expression hesitant, but ultimately shook his head and whispered:

"It's hard to say."

"Ah Chen's temperament and command are indeed impeccable, but the Stone Armored Lizard's advantage is too obvious. As long as Li Heng doesn't make those kinds of basic mistakes and plays it safe, it will be too difficult for the Flame Claw Beast to win."

"Yeah?"

Old Liu smiled noncommittally, blew on the tea leaves on the rim of his cup, and deliberately joked, "But he's different."

Zhang Zhi's lips twitched.

He knew that Lao Liu was taking the opportunity to tease him about how he had praised Lin Chen yesterday.

On the field, the battle has already begun.

Li Heng launched the first attack, his command clear: "Stone Lizard, use Rough Skin!"

"Hoo-hoo~"

With a low growl, the rocky carapace on the stone armor lizard's body gleamed with an even deeper luster, and the surface texture seemed to come alive at this moment, wriggling slightly and becoming even denser and harder.

Its defensive capabilities are further enhanced by the application of skills.

"Flameclaw Beast, Flame Breath!"

At the same moment, Lin Chen had an idea: to let the Flame Claw Beast test the waters first.

"Gaku!"

The Flameclaw Beast's chest bulged, and a solid, orange-red fireball shot out swiftly, tearing through the air and carrying a scorching shockwave as it slammed directly into the Stone Armor Lizard's front!

Faced with the incoming fireball, the Stone Armored Lizard neither dodged nor avoided it, but even lowered its head slightly, pointing its hardest carapace at the direction of the attack.

boom!

The fireball slammed solidly into the center of the stone armor lizard's carapace, causing flames to explode and heat waves to spread outwards.

When the smoke cleared, the stone lizard's body only swayed slightly, leaving a palm-sized charred mark where it had been hit, and its carapace was slightly hot.

But there wasn't even a noticeable crack, let alone any damage.

"As expected, it won't work..."

"The defense is too tough!"

"The Flameclaw Beast's flames look powerful, but they can't penetrate them."

A sigh of regret and a predictable whisper rang out from the sidelines.

"Rockfall!"

Li Heng seized the opportunity to press his advantage, flicking his finger.

The stone armored lizard's thick tail slammed into the ground beside it with a heavy whistling sound!

Boom!

The specially designed floor of the training room trembled slightly, and the ground in front of him suddenly cracked open. Several sharp-edged rocks of different sizes were controlled by an invisible force and shot out from the ground, heading straight for the Flameclaw Beast!

The coverage area was quite wide, blocking the Flameclaw Beast's space to dodge left and right.

Facing the incoming flying stones, Lin Chen's eyes remained unchanged: "Sharp claws, shatter them!"

A fierce glint flashed in the Flameclaw Beast's eyes. Instead of retreating, it lunged forward half a step and swung out with its claws crossed!

The claw tip was instantly covered by a solidified, pale light, slicing out several sharp, cold glints!

laugh!laugh!laugh!

The incoming rocks were like fragile tofu before the incomparably sharp claws, easily sliced ​​and smashed, turning into countless pebbles that fell down.

The Flameclaw Beast emerged from the flying debris unscathed, its aura even stronger: "Gagu!"

"good!"

Someone on the sidelines couldn't help but let out a soft murmur of approval.

Just as the Flameclaw Beast shattered the last rock, a glint flashed in Li Heng's eyes as he seized the fleeting opportunity: "Now! Charge!"

"roar!"

The stone armored lizard let out a deep roar like a rolling boulder, and its thick, powerful limbs slammed into the ground.

The body, far larger than the Flameclaw Beast, unleashed a speed disproportionate to its size at this moment, like a heavy tank starting up at full power, charging fiercely towards the Flameclaw Beast!

In that instant, the rocky armor covering his entire body glowed slightly, amplifying the impact to its maximum.

If this impact were to land, the Flameclaw Beast's defenses would be severely compromised.

"Maru-la!"

"This offensive is going quite smoothly. Li must have been practicing a lot at home, right?"

Seeing the stone armored lizard charging towards him, Lin Chen remained calm, and a thought flashed through his mind: "Small-scale explosion."

It's time to test this intermediate skill in actual combat.

"Gag~"

The Flameclaw Beast took a deep breath, its chest bulging visibly, and extremely condensed flames rapidly gathered and compressed deep in its throat, emitting a terrifyingly high temperature that made one's scalp tingle, scorching and distorting the air around its mouth.

"Still want to use flamethrower?"

Seeing this, Li Heng shook his head: "Brother Chen, the Flame Breath Bullet is useless against the Stone Armor Lizard..."

But the next moment, his words came to an abrupt halt.

"Gaku!!!"

As the Flameclaw opened its mouth, a burst of orange flame erupted!

It was no longer a fireball, but a pillar of orange fire carrying scorching heat.

The moment the pillar of fire shot out, it even emitted an extremely sharp shriek, and the recoil caused the Flameclaw Beast's upper body to involuntarily lean backward.

At such close range and at such high speed, the Stone Armored Lizard had no time to make any effective evasive or defensive maneuvers!

At that moment, it only saw the orange light sweeping towards it, and then an indescribable impact force slammed into its chest and abdomen!

Rumble!!!

An explosion several times more powerful than the [Flame Breath Bomb] suddenly resounded throughout the training room, the orange flames and shockwaves mixing together and completely engulfing the Stone Armored Lizard inside.

"Stone Armored Lizard!!" Li Heng's exclamation was drowned out by the sound of the explosion.

Before everyone's eyes, the stone armored lizard was blasted into the air and flew backwards!

Its proud, thick rocky shell suddenly developed dense, spiderweb-like cracks, and the smell of burnt rock and shattered rock instantly filled the air.

The stone-armored lizard traced an arc in the air before crashing heavily to the ground seven or eight meters away, rolling several times before coming to a stop.

It struggled to stand up, but the shattered carapace between its chest and abdomen, along with the intense pain and the impact of the explosion, made it dizzy and weak. After several attempts, it could only stand shakily in place.

Although he can still stand up, he is only one step away from collapsing completely.

For a moment, the area around the venue fell silent.

What's going on?

The smile on Li Heng's face had long since frozen. He first glanced at the Stone Armored Lizard, which was almost incapacitated, then at the Flame Claw Beast opposite him, his voice hoarse:

"Brother Chen, isn't the power of your Flame Breath Bullet a bit unreasonable?"

Lin Chen laughed and said, "No, it's not Flame Breath Bullet, it's an intermediate skill that this child learned yesterday."

He watched as the Flameclaw Beast raised its head higher and higher, coughed lightly, and spoke in a somewhat unnatural tone:

"This guy seems to be a genius. He learned this skill without even realizing it. I call it mini-explosion."

For a moment, everyone stared intently at the Flameclaw Beast.

As we all know, intermediate skills are standard equipment for elite-level pets, while awakened and extraordinary-level pets face great difficulty in learning them.

Moreover, this is a newly contracted Tier 1 pet beast.

The fact that this Flameclaw Beast could learn a previously unheard-of intermediate skill in such a short time can only mean one thing—it is indeed a genius.

in the crowd,

Zhang Zhi opened his mouth, but didn't say anything for a long time. He turned his head to look at Lao Liu, who was also full of astonishment.

Old Liu happened to turn around, and the two looked at each other for a moment.

The next moment, Old Liu gently blew on his tea and said calmly, "Hmph, you're making a fuss over nothing. You young people have never seen a truly talented pet beast."

He paused, then added, "I told you, he's different."

Zhang Zhi's eyes widened.

Hey, hey, hey, I was the one who said that first.