Beast Taming Begins with Inheriting a Legacy.

Besides the driver, there were 13 people on the bus: 3 teachers and 10 students.

Besides Zhou Mengran, the other two teachers were Wan Endong, the deputy director of the second-year high school group, who was responsible for itinerary arrangements and logistics, and Zhang Huizi, the director of the school's medical team, who was responsible for accompanying the patients for treatment.

"Zero~ Over here~"

After Gu Ling put her luggage away and got into the car, Huang Weiwei waved to her.

There was an empty seat next to Huang Weiwei, so Gu Ling went over and sat down.

Once everyone had arrived, the bus started moving.

"Hey, where's Xianjiu? Don't you usually bring Xianjiu out?" Huang Weiwei asked curiously when she saw that Gu Ling didn't have Mischievous Ghost or Xianjiu with her.

Gu Ling smiled helplessly: "Xian Jiu has gone into the pet space to continue meditating."

The effects of those three videos are quite lasting; Xianjiu is still preoccupied with them and won't let a single moment of training time slip by.

"Xian Jiu is working so hard..." Huang Weiwei exclaimed.

After chatting with Huang Weiwei for a while, Gu Ling opened WeChat and entered the newly created competition group.

A lot of information about the opponents in this competition was posted in the group, but Gu Ling has been meditating and training these days and hasn't had time to take a good look at it.

"..."

An hour and a half later.

The bus stopped in the parking lot of the Linbin Hotel in Hailan City.

The Linbin Hotel took care of the accommodation and meals for the school teams participating in this friendly match. When Gu Ling and the others got out of the car, they saw more than a dozen buses parked in the parking lot, and many students wearing different school uniforms were there.

"Oh, Brother Wan, you've finally arrived."

At that moment, a middle-aged man who looked like a teacher from another school walked over with a smile.

When Wan Endong saw the visitor, he smiled politely and stepped forward, saying, "Long time no see, Da Chun."

The middle-aged man glanced casually at Gu Ling and her students, his face still beaming with a smile: "These are your students. They look quite energetic. You should be confident of making it into the top 16 this time, right?"

Wan Endong's lips twitched, and he said modestly, "Hehe, how can you say for sure? This is the first time the children have participated in a competition, so there's no need to put too much pressure on them."

Upon hearing this, Shang Qichun shook his head, feigning distress: "Sigh, none of the students I brought are as quiet as yours. They're all too arrogant. On the way here, they kept shouting about wanting to make it to the top eight or the top four, haha..."

"..."

Seeing this somewhat insincere scene, Gu Ling moved closer to the two female teachers and asked in a low voice, "Teacher Zhou, Teacher Zhang, why does Director Wan look a little unwell?"

"I'm not quite sure about that," Zhou Mengran shook her head.

Zhou Mengran graduated from Nanping No. 1 High School many years ago. In previous years, she only came back a few times during holidays when she had free time, so she was not very clear about what had happened in the past few years.

So, everyone who couldn't wait to see what was going on turned to look at Zhang Huizi.

Zhang Huizi began, "The person talking to Director Wan is Shang Qichun, the senior high school director of Wenli No. 1 Middle School. In the last friendly match, Wenli No. 1 Middle School was the opponent that No. 1 Middle School faced in the top 8 of the team competition, and then lost to them."

Gu Ling and the others suddenly realized what was going on.

"Oh, I see..."

"Isn't this just like enemies meeting, their eyes blazing with hatred?"

"No, no, this should be called 'enemies meeting on a narrow road'."

Zhang Huizi continued, "Nanping No.1 Middle School and Wenli No.1 Middle School are almost the same in terms of both teaching staff and student performance. In addition, Wenli County is right next to Nanping County. It is inevitable that the two schools will compare with each other because they are close to each other."

Lou Huayu rubbed his hands together: "Then we will definitely beat Wenli No.1 Middle School this year and get our revenge."

"That's right!"

"That's right."

On the other side, Wan Endong, who had just finished exchanging a few pleasantries and shaken off Shang Qichun's approach, laughed heartily upon hearing the students' boastful words, his gloomy expression vanishing instantly:

"It's good that you have this fighting spirit, but let's go up to the hotel first, put your luggage away, and have dinner together at the hotel at 6 pm."

"Everyone, relax tonight, eat well, drink well, and sleep well. We'll meet at 8 a.m. tomorrow to draw lots for group assignments, and the team competition qualifiers will officially begin at 9 a.m."

Gu Ling and the others responded in unison, "Yes!"

"..."

The hotel rooms allocated to Nanping No.1 Middle School include: three single rooms for teachers, two double rooms for students, and two triple rooms for students.

Gu Ling and Huang Weiwei were assigned to a double room, while the other three girls were assigned to a triple room.

As for the boys, Lu Jiuwen, Long Yifei, and Dai Hao were assigned to another triple room, while Pei Gang and Lou Huayu were assigned to the last double room.

Around 6 o'clock, Gu Ling and the others left their hotel room and went downstairs to have dinner.

Upon entering the private room, the hotel staff methodically brought out the dishes one by one.

"Let all your pets out." Zhou Mengran clapped her hands.

Everyone released their pets.

At this moment, Gu Ling opened two contract arrays that glowed with a crimson light, and Xian Jiu and the mischievous ghost came out one after the other.

Upon seeing so much food, the two pets immediately ran over happily.

Lou Huayu pointed a trembling finger at the mischievous boy: "Gu...Gu Ling, you...you..."

Red Contract Magic Circle!

Two-star Beastmaster!

The thought crossed everyone's mind at the same time.

Gu Ling nodded calmly: "Yes, I just became a two-star Beast Tamer a few hours ago."

"Damn! No wonder you're so late!" Long Yifei exclaimed in shock.

Lou Huayu rubbed his hands together excitedly: "Then our team will have a warrior-level pet beast! Doesn't that mean we can break into the top four and set a new school record?!"

"Shh!" Wan Endong's expression suddenly turned serious. He strode to the door of the private room, first peeking outside furtively. Seeing that no one was around, he turned and said, "Keep your voices down."

Seeing the strange looks he was getting, Wan Endong coughed twice and straightened up: "Gu Ling, you little rascal, try not to let anyone see you these next few days. You guys too, make sure to keep it a secret."

Gu Ling nodded: "Director Wan, don't worry, I know."

"We'll keep it a secret."

"This is a killer weapon! It's our trump card in this team competition."

Zhou Mengran reminded him, "The Pet Alliance has a rule that if a Beast Tamer contracts a new pet, they must register the information with the nearest Pet Alliance within seven days. You can try to stay within the time limit and update the information on the seventh day."

This way, Gu Ling's identity as a two-star beast tamer can be kept secret to the greatest extent possible.

Gu Ling: "Yes, that's what I think too."

Afterwards, while everyone ate, they listened to Wan Endong explain the competition process of the team's preliminary rounds.

A total of 80 schools participated in the friendly competition. Each school sent a team to participate in the team competition. The school teams that made it to the top eight last year can skip this year's qualifiers and directly advance to the top 32.

The remaining 72 teams will be divided into 24 groups of 3 teams each, playing a best-of-three series against each other.

Each team sends out three players for a 1v1 match. Players cannot be substituted during the match. The lineup and order of appearance must be submitted 15 minutes before the match.

Each team earns 3 points for a win, 0 points for a loss, and 1 point for each team in a tie.

Ultimately, the team with the most points advanced from the group stage to participate in the final 32 team competition.

Lou Huayu was gnawing on a large chicken leg, his voice slightly muffled: "...Director Wan, the top 8 teams don't need to play in the qualifiers?"

"Yes." Wan Endong nodded.

"The top 8 teams are all quite strong. This is to prevent some weaker school teams from encountering the top 8 teams in the first round of the qualifiers and being crushed."

After all, this is a friendly exchange competition between schools, so we still need to save face for them.

Zhou Mengran smiled and said, "This is also a good thing for us. If we're not too unlucky and the teams we're grouped with aren't very strong, then we can let our substitute players play first."

"Not only in the qualifiers, but also in the subsequent matches, if we don't encounter any particularly strong opponents, it's not necessary for all three official players to play."

Zhou Mengran was in charge of the competition, so Wan Endong and Zhang Huizi didn't say anything, but they both agreed with Zhou Mengran's arrangement.

Lou Huayu was the first to speak up and assure everyone: "Teacher, don't worry, we'll handle it."

Huang Weiwei chimed in, "Yes! We can definitely win."

"Don't be too careless. The school is broadcasting it live. If we lose, we'll lose face in front of the whole school." Dai Hao adjusted his glasses with his fingers.

Zhou Mengran took a sip of juice: "That's right. The opponents who came to participate in the competition are all in the top ten of their respective schools, so we can't let our guard down."

"yes!"

"..."

After dinner, Gu Ling and the others went to the central arena where the friendly match would be held the next day to familiarize themselves with the venue.

After wandering around outside for a while, they all went back to the hotel to rest around 10 p.m.

……

the next morning.

Gu Ling and the others got up around 7 a.m., had breakfast at the hotel, and then set off for the central battle arena.

Before that, Wan Endong had already gone to draw lots to form groups.

When Gu Ling and the others arrived at the central battle arena, the draw results had already been released.

When Wan Endong returned, a hint of joy remained on his face: "We were quite lucky. Our opponents in the preliminary rounds were Takeda Ichichū and Mizuwa Ichichū. These two schools have had mediocre results in friendly matches in previous years, which means they can barely pass the preliminary rounds."

Zhou Mengran quickly found information about the two schools and posted it in the competition group that had just been created the night before.

Takeda Junior High School specializes in training fire-type pets. The pets of the official team members are of the following types: rock, water, and fire.

Shuihe No.1 Middle School specializes in training electric-type pets. The pet attributes of the official team members are: Ground, Grass, and Electric.

Lou Huayu scratched his head: "Aren't these two schools supposed to specialize in fire and electric element training? How come their official team members only have one fire or electric element pet?"

Beside him, Lu Jiuwen said calmly, "These two schools specialize in fire-type and electric-type pets because they are located near two protected areas for fire-type and electric-type pets, where a large number of wild fire-type and electric-type pets live and are easy to capture. Therefore, most of the residents there have contracted pets of these two attributes."

"Students from wealthy families who want to stand out in those two schools will naturally contract pets that can counter fire or electric types." Lu Jiuwen sent the school information he had compiled privately to the group.

"Oh, I see..."

"Those people are quite cunning."

After listening to Lu Jiuwen's explanation, Gu Ling shook her head: "I don't think so. In two schools that specialize in training fire and electric type pets, if you contract a pet of another type, even if you can get along well in the school at first because of the attribute advantage, without a suitable instructor to train you, you will only take a lot of detours."

However, these are all other people's choices.

Perhaps those people weren't unaware of this, but they had money and connections, so they could hire training institutions to raise their pets and didn't care about the training provided by schools.

"No matter what, we have to win our first match against Takeda Junior High."

"Since the opponent specializes in fire-based attacks, the lineup for the first preliminary group stage match will be: He Siruo, Lou Huayu, and Lu Jiuwen."

The first battle is crucial; we must achieve a crushing victory to boost morale.

Zhou Mengran entrusted the first match of the first group game to He Siruo, who had an attribute advantage and a calm and quiet personality.

Zhou Mengran placed Lu Jiuwen in the third round, thinking that if he could win the first two rounds, he wouldn't need to play the third round and could continue to hide Lu Jiuwen's strength.

Zhou Mengran turned to He Siruo: "Siruo, the first battle is in your hands."

"Yes." He Siruo nodded solemnly.

"Keep it up, Siruo!"

"Victory is a must in the first battle!"

Huang Weiwei and the others cheered her on from the sidelines.

After the list and order of the participants were finalized, Wan Endong went to submit the participation information.

With a dozen minutes or so before the match started, Zhou Mengran called Long Yifei and Sun Xueyi over: "There's one more thing I need to do for you two."

Upon hearing this, Long Yifei and Sun Xueyi couldn't help but become curious.

"Teacher Zhou, what kind of task is it?"

"Wait a moment, go and record the match video between Lishan Middle School and Mingdong Middle School," Zhou Mengran said.

"These two teams have been favorites to compete for the top 8 in previous years, but they were unlucky last year. They were eliminated in the round of 16 when they were both eliminated by Yushou Vocational High School and Hailan No.1 High School."

"This time, both teams were a bit unlucky to be drawn into the same group. If they want to advance, they will have to reveal some of their trump cards."

Although both teams have collected some information, they lack information on the matchups, and the data-driven information is too one-sided.

Considering the possibility of encountering each other in later matches, it is essential to do a good job of gathering intelligence before the match.

Zhou Mengran handed two sets of recording equipment to the two of them: "Your task today is to record the match video of these two teams."

Long Yifei and Sun Xueyi also realized the importance of this task and readily agreed.

"Okay, teacher."

"We guarantee to complete the mission!"

Just as Long Yifei was about to leave, he suddenly remembered Wenli No. 1 Middle School, which he had met yesterday, and asked, "What about Wenli No. 1 Middle School?"

Zhang Huizi, standing beside her, chuckled softly, "Over there... Director Wan doesn't trust anyone else to go; he'll personally go and keep an eye on things."

"Oh...that's good."

Upon hearing this, the others, recalling the scene of Director Wan encountering the other school's teachers yesterday, immediately burst into laughter. (End of Chapter)