He couldn't win.
Because Lin Chuan had no intention of winning right now.
There was a saying in his previous life: only those who laugh last are the true winners.
Two months later, the second half of the entrance examination, the secret realm trial, would be the 'end' of the current stage.
Only by winning the entrance examination and receiving an admission letter from one of the Eight Great Academies would he be a true winner!
Before that, all victories were false!
What if he won all the Baby Cup tournaments? What if he also won the Xiao Qingkong Cup and the Little Qinghe Cup?
If he were to be studied by everyone and then specifically targeted and eliminated at the very beginning of the entrance examination because of those wins...
Then, this victory, this championship, would only make him a laughingstock, and there have been countless such examples over the years.
Hmm, Lin Chuan would try his best to win.
But if he encountered an obviously powerful opponent like Li Zeyu, an opponent he basically had no hope of defeating unless he revealed his hidden cards, then he would choose to lose.
Lin Chuan wanted to keep Guoguo's Bomb Fruit and Sakura's Assistance as hidden cards until the entrance examination.
Of course, even if he chose to lose, he couldn't just give up directly; that would make his intention to hide his skills too obvious.
Lin Chuan would use the Milk Shield Poison System to thoroughly disgust his opponents.
He would make a match last for several hours, from daybreak until sunset, until Photosynthesis was basically ineffective, and then concede.
By using such a disgusting fighting style, he would reinforce the impression of him as Milk Tyrant in the minds of the opposing Beast Master and the audience, ideally creating a mental imprint that would make everyone subconsciously believe he only specialized in Milk Shield Poison, only knew Milk Shield Poison, and had no other active and more powerful offensive methods, to the point where opponents would feel sick upon seeing him during the entrance examination, lose interest in fighting, and turn to leave.
Then, as they turned away, he would deliver a brutal backstab.
He would whisper in their ear, 'Fooled you, didn't I?'
This is called thinking three steps ahead.
...
The aerial performance show was very short, ending in about two hours.
Afterward, there was the opening ceremony for Blue Feather Airlines' subsidiary, Lanfei Equipment, in Commercial Park District 3. It was a factory store selling equipment and props related to riding and flying. Lin Chuan and Tan Yan weren't interested in watching that.
The two chatted for a while about Li Zeyu and other talented Beast Masters who had recently emerged in Qinghe City, dominating various Baby Cup tournaments and clearly showing a higher level of strength than others.
Hmm, Lin Chuan even heard Sun Yinyin's name from Tan Yan.
He learned from the old man that Sun Yinyin had only contracted her second spirit beast, Flower Leaf Leaf, who had just passed her infancy at the farm, about three days ago.
How many days had she been in Qinghe City? And she was already making a name for herself?
She had just arrived and already swept through a medium-sized Baby Cup, taking the championship.
According to Tan Yan, Sun Yinyin was even hailed by many media reporters and onlookers as the strongest newcomer from Tianshang Town this year, and was given the title 'Wolf Girl'.
These media and onlookers just love giving people nicknames.
Lin Chuan didn't feel much about it, only finding it quite interesting. He just wondered if the title he'd get later when he made his mark in the Xiao Qingkong Cup would still be 'Milk Tyrant', or if they'd give him a new one.
Hmm, Lin Chuan thought the title Milk Tyrant sounded a bit unpleasant.
It was 11:30 AM.
Lin Chuan and Tan Yan had lunch together and then parted ways.
Tan Yan was going to do a newcomer mission.
Lin Chuan, on the other hand, called a Blue Feather Airlines ride to the Beastmaster Association.
The holiday break, which started at 2 PM yesterday, was now over after about a day.
So, it was time to return to normal training life!
He believed Guoguo and Sakura had played enough and released all their stress after yesterday's amusement park, cinema, evening shopping, and watching the aerial performance show.
This time, Lin Chuan did not choose the Level 1 Sunlit Room.
Hmm, at this time, Level 1 rooms would have long been taken by other new Beast Masters. Even the general rooms were unavailable; only public rooms were left, which Lin Chuan definitely wouldn't choose.
So, Lin Chuan had no choice but to select a Level 2 general room.
Level 2 general rooms are typically used by spirit beasts of Tier 2 to Tier 3.
Furthermore, there were no discounts for new Beast Masters or temporary waivers of points like in the Level 1 training rooms.
The rent for a Level 2 general training room was 2000 star rock coin and 1 point per hour.
Lin Chuan rented it for five hours.
General rooms do not simulate sunlight for Wood Attribute spirit beasts; the rooms only have ordinary incandescent lights. Photosynthesis can still occur, but the effect is very poor; Expert Grade Photosynthesis has a practical effect similar to normal grade.
However, the internal space of the room was much wider, and there were more and more advanced training tools.
For example, the automatic ball launcher was larger than the one in the Level 1 room, and it could be set to higher ball power and firing speed, reaching up to 10 shots per second with a power of 500kg.
After looking around, Lin Chuan released the two little ones from his beast-taming space, ready to warm up and begin training.
First, of course, was the test of the Assistance skill.
Two minutes later, looking at the number 2138 displayed on the skill power testing instrument, Lin Chuan nodded with satisfaction, his face filled with pleasant surprise.
Skill power testing instrument.
It was essentially a row of dummies made from an unknown alloy material. By directly casting damage skills onto them, one could test the skill's power range.
Skill power below 100 usually represents the damage that spirit beasts from Level 0 to 9, who haven't yet condensed their spirit core, can deal.
100 to 1500 is the normal damage range for Tier 1 spirit beasts.
Exceeding 1500 to 2000 is the damage range that only strong offensive, burst-type specialized Tier 1 spirit beasts, with sufficiently powerful attack skills and high proficiency (at least Master Grade), can achieve.
And above 2000, that is the normal damage range for Tier 2 spirit beasts.
Guoguo and Sakura, both little ones, were currently Level 17.
Sakura used Assistance to transfer her energy to Guoguo, and Guoguo then compressed and output all the energy through her proficient Bomb Fruit. With the two combined, the damage actually reached 2138!?
This meant that the combined attack of the two little ones was already equivalent to a normal attack from a Tier 2 spirit beast, an attack beyond their tier!
Truly, terrifying!
After testing Assistance, normal training began.
First, he prepared the Primary Flora Resilience Ointment, throwing it into the automatic ball launcher, catching it with their bodies.
Then, he prepared the Primary Flora Meridian Enhancer and began practicing various energy skills.
Lin Chuan himself also started various fitness exercises.
Just like that.
Lin Chuan returned to a state of intense, secluded cultivation.
Time flew by quietly.
In a flash, another half month passed.
Only one and a half months remained until the entrance examination.
And only the last two hours remained until the opening ceremony of the Xiao Qingkong Cup.
In this past half month...
Guoguo had leveled up to 18, and Sakura was just a hair shy of Level 18.
And with the cheat-like stat allocation and the two little ones' diligent training, their skill situation was now as follows:
Guoguo: Rooting (Expert Grade), Photosynthesis (Expert Grade), Growth (Expert Grade), Grass Flute (Master Grade), Vine Armor Shield (Master Grade), Wood Spirit Shield (Proficient), Healing Aroma (Normal), Bomb Fruit (Proficient), Sleeping (Proficient).
Sakura: Rooting (Expert Grade), Photosynthesis (Expert Grade), Growth (Expert Grade), Grass Flute (Master Grade), Vine Armor Shield (Expert Grade), Healing Aroma (Master Grade), Poison Powder (Master Grade), Confusing Words (Normal), Sleeping (Proficient), Assistance (Normal).
It's worth mentioning, to Lin Chuan's surprise!
Guoguo actually comprehended Healing Aroma herself after smelling Sakura's Healing Aroma for a period of time.
As expected of Guoguo, with the potential of a great emperor, her energy talent was truly strong.
Lin Chuan immediately rewarded Guoguo handsomely, giving her a big red envelope of 500 star rock coin plus a small blue flower, and also the belly-rubbing reward that Guoguo strongly requested. Lin Chuan found it strange, but ultimately fulfilled Guoguo's request.
And then, there was the common skill, 'Sleeping'.
A week ago, Lin Chuan got incredibly lucky and directly snagged a large bag, totaling 30 balls of yarn, all containing spirit beast materials with the inherited skill 'Sleeping'.
It seemed to be a batch of materials sold collectively by a certain Sloth Cat breeding base.
Sloth Cat, a mid-tier soldier-grade bloodline, similar to a fusion of a sloth and a ragdoll cat from his previous life.
This type of spirit beast only had decent defense; all other attributes were relatively inferior, and they were inherently lazy. Wanting them to wake up early every day to train diligently was more painful for them than outright killing them.
Even if one wanted a defensive spirit beast, there were other better choices.
Therefore, almost no Beast Masters would contract a Sloth Cat, unless they gave up the path of beast taming and contracted one as a family pet.
Sloth Cats spent their entire days eating and Sleeping. Their only advantage was that they grew very long, fluffy, and soft fur with excellent texture, making them one of the best materials for producing various plush toys.
At the same time, and this was a crucial use, it could also be used to create special advanced cultivation products for spirit beasts like Plushies, which were spiritualized from dolls, to enhance their defensive attributes.
The yarn balls Lin Chuan bought were, of course, of the lowest quality Sloth Cat yarn.
Such low-quality yarn balls were usually only suitable for making small toys for children and young spirit beasts.
For a bag of 30, Lin Chuan only spent 6000 star rock coin. Both the Beast Store owner and Lin Chuan thought they had made a killing.
Hmm, if it weren't for Lin Chuan's insufficient mental energy, he would have wanted to directly upgrade Guoguo and Sakura's Sleeping skill to Master Grade in one go. This skill is not restricted by the spirit beast's bloodline tier. Then, they could just fall asleep instantly and recover health, completely patching up the issue of not being able to use Photosynthesis at night.
Recap, up to this point.
Lin Chuan changed into a relatively formal outfit and went out.
He wore a casual shirt on top and jeans on the bottom, looking like a vibrant young man.
The Xiao Qingkong Cup, and the subsequent Little Qinghe Cup that would be held.
The competition venues were all at Qinghe City's largest battle arena, which was also the location of Qinghe City's First Hall, the Heavenly Water Flow, known as the Blue Sky Azure Water Hall.
The competition grounds were divided into four areas, arranged in a grid pattern, with each area as large as a football field.
During the early stages of the competition, when there were many contestants, four matches could be held simultaneously.
In the later stages, when there were fewer contestants, these areas could be merged and expanded, providing a larger stage for more powerful contestants to showcase their abilities.
Furthermore, the material composition of the competition grounds was not steel plates, but rather a floating arena on a giant artificial lake, composed of countless large and small reefs, full of puddles, and covered with moss and small shrubs.
On such a massive and complex arena,
Beast Masters needed to wear specialized headset microphones for their spirit beasts to hear their commands, or if the Beast Master had a mind-sensing Beast Taming talent, they could go without the headset microphone.
Of course, if the Beast Master and spirit beast's tacit understanding had reached the level of mental synchronization, they could also choose not to wear the headset microphone.
In short, wearing it or not was voluntary, as long as the Beast Master could command their spirit beast effectively.
The Xiao Qingkong Cup had a total of 232 contestants.
It must be said, in this world, geniuses are truly as numerous as carp crossing a river.
The registration requirements were quite strict, yet there were still so many participants.
One should know that not all qualified individuals signed up for the Xiao Qingkong Cup; a significant portion were eyeing the subsequent Little Qinghe Cup.
These contestants were all champions of small Baby Cup tournaments, champions and runner-ups of medium Baby Cup tournaments, and champions, runner-ups, and third-place winners of large Baby Cup tournaments. Each of them was much stronger than ordinary new Beast Masters.
Hmm, Lin Chuan saw Sun Yinyin and Ping Kai, two familiar faces, among the contestants in the preparation area.
And... Li Zeyu!
Why was this guy here too? Was he short on the prize money from the Xiao Qingkong Cup? Or was he just here to show off?
Even if he could win the championship, wasn't he afraid of being thoroughly studied by others and then heavily targeted in the entrance examination?