What does it mean when a pet evolves incorrectly?

When Wu Zhen saw the Flameclaw Beast crush the Giant Tooth Mountain Rat with overwhelming force, he fell silent for a moment.

He tightened his grip on the tablet slightly, first glancing at the imposing Flameclaw Beast in the center of the arena, then at the Giant Tooth Mountain Rat lying on the ground groaning, temporarily incapacitated.

Fifteen seconds.

From the giant mountain rat's charge to being repelled by its sharp claws, and finally being blasted away by a powerful fire attack, everything was clean and efficient, without the slightest hesitation.

Such a decisive victory is rare in the junior beast tamer certification exam.

But Wu Zhen's silence did not last long.

He had been in this line of work for over ten years and had seen all sorts of beast tamers and their pets. Although this situation was rare, it wasn't unheard of.

He had seen a spirited young man, accompanied by a powerful pet beast, instantly kill a giant-toothed mountain rat;

There are also beast tamers who are so steady that it is hard to understand how they can raise their pet beasts to the second tier, ninth level, making them virtually unmatched in their tier, before they come to get certified.

Some beast tamers even took a different approach; their pets, though not very strong, managed to hold out for three minutes solely through defense, and thus passed the test.

The Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat, as a standardized assessment tool mass-bred by the association, has a stable strength at Tier 2, Stage 1. It is perfectly suited for testing the basic combat abilities of novice Beastmasters.

In short, Wu Zhen, who has seen all kinds of pets, has already raised his threshold in this regard. Unless the beast tamer himself is exceptionally talented, it is difficult to surprise him.

But how many beast tamers are naturally gifted?

Many thoughts flashed through his mind. Wu Zhen picked up his tablet, quickly tapped the screen, and finally looked up at Lin Chen:

"Congratulations on successfully passing the combat assessment for beginner beast tamers."

"Your certification information and battle recordings will be submitted to the Association's review department for final review. Once approved, your Beastmaster level information will be updated in real time in the Association's internal system and relevant Federation databases."

"The review process typically takes 1-3 business days. Please check your system notifications or text messages."

"You can go home and wait."

"Okay, thank you." Lin Chen left the association building directly.

The process of becoming a certified junior beast tamer was much easier than he had imagined; however, online reviews suggested otherwise.

Some netizens said that the tension of taking the beginner beast tamer exam was similar to taking a driver's license test, which made Lin Chen nervous.

If you were to rank the most stressful things in life, getting a driver's license would definitely be near the top.

But when he actually stepped into the association building to begin the assessment, Lin Chen was not nervous at all; on the contrary, he was eager to try and full of anticipation.

"Is this what it feels like to be a genius?" he murmured.

"Gag?"

The Flameclaw Beast keenly caught the keyword and quickly looked up.

genius?

What kind of genius?

Was Lin Chen calling him?

To be honest, I don't know why, but since yesterday, Flameclaw Beast has felt like it's become smarter again.

Using skills becomes easier, and with a little thought, one can even discover the mistakes made when using skills in the past.

It had never seen a genius as outstanding as itself.

As long as I maintain this pace of progress, I can wash away my shame in no time, and then I can... hehehe.

As he pondered this, the Flameclaw Beast lowered its head, put its paws on its hips, and grinned, bursting into laughter.

Lin Chen looked over in confusion.

What's wrong with this child?

Looking at the Flameclaw Beast that was inexplicably laughing, and then at the Pinepie curled up quietly in his arms, Lin Chen couldn't help but sigh, "Nuomi is still the most worry-free."

"Eek~"

Nuomi looked up at him, then glanced sideways at the chuckling Flameclaw Beast, and snuggled closer to Lin Chen.

As evening fell, the setting sun cast a soft golden glow on the exterior of the Beastmaster Association building.

Inside the building, most of the external service windows have been closed, and the daytime hustle and bustle has gradually faded away, but the internal office areas are still brightly lit.

Inside the audit department, in an office cubicle filled with monitors and filing cabinets.

Cai Hua rubbed his slightly sore eyes, picked up the coffee that had long since gone cold and took a big gulp. The bitter taste gave him a slight boost of energy.

As an ordinary clerk in the auditing department, his work was tedious and repetitive.

The system backend performs a final manual review of the large number of applications submitted daily for Beastmaster level certification, information changes, and task settlements.

Today he has dozens of applications that need to be reviewed, most of which are for junior beast tamer certification, a few for intermediate, and none for senior.

This is normal. Advanced Beast Tamers can hold important positions in any unit in Qinglan City. The certification process is more complicated and less frequent.

He moved the mouse and clicked on the next application material to be reviewed. The system automatically popped up a window showing the applicant's basic information.

Name: Lin Chen

Age: 18 years old

Application type: Junior Beastmaster Certification

Beastmaster registration time: 44 days

Current certification status: Intern

Submission time: 9:47 AM today

Examiner: Wu Zhen

Preliminary assessment results: Passed

"Um?"

Cai Hua's gaze lingered on the age and registration time for a moment. He subconsciously adjusted his glasses, leaned forward slightly, and moved closer to the screen.

44 days?

He didn't see wrong, did he?

It only took 44 days from registering as an apprentice beast tamer to applying for basic certification?

Cai Hua's first reaction was that he was seeing things, and he couldn't help but mutter, "Could it be that I'm hallucinating because I've been working too much overtime lately?"

He rubbed his eyes hard and patted his face until he felt a slight pain before opening his eyes again—they still showed him as 18 years old and 44 days old.

At this moment, Cai Hua sat up straight, his drowsiness and numbness replaced by a seriousness and a subtle excitement at discovering something significant.

He realized something very important—he might have discovered an extraordinary talent.

So he took a deep breath and immediately opened the assessment battle video attached to the application.

The scene begins in a battle room, with both sides' pets facing off. Cai Hua drags the progress bar to jump directly to the start of the battle.

The giant-toothed mountain rat, chosen as the test pet, charged forward, and then...

Cai Hua's eyes slowly widened.

Slap, knock back, fireball, explosion, fall to the ground.

The entire battle process was clearly displayed on the recording timer with the time: 00:00:15.

Fifteen seconds! Battle over!

As a novice beast tamer, Cai Hua is not good at combat, but as an examiner, he can roughly judge the strength of a pet beast by the assessment time.

This Flameclaw Beast is very strong, enough to go toe-to-toe with his pet beast.

Within five minutes, he defeated his pet five times.

Perhaps more than that.

"Are all the new beast tamers this year this abnormal?" he muttered to himself, then took out his internal communication phone, dialed, and said solemnly, "Supervisor, I feel you need to come to the review room."

"A genius has emerged from our Qinglan City."