Qinghe City Beastmaster Association, Monitoring Center.
Even though it was already deep into the night, the lights here were still bright, and the staff were busy, constantly monitoring the situation within the Secret Realm Trial Space.
Shi Kuanshan and Liang Lu continued to drink tea.
Well, 2 days and 48 hours were nothing for Beast Masters around Level 50; staying up for a month or even longer was not an issue for them.
The special 3D monitoring equipment in front of them was currently cycling through the screens of the candidates receiving special attention.
There was a scene of Li Zeyu riding a Tier 2 Blue Feather Eagle, swooping down from the sky to eliminate other candidates.
There was also a scene of Lin Chuan, dressed in Vine Armor and protected by Healing Aroma, swinging a baseball bat to smash a Terror Puppet.
There was a scene of Chen Yulu persuading other strong candidates to form a team.
Finally, the screen froze on the battle between Lin Chuan and three candidates who had teamed up against him, with Sakura using Assistance to transfer her energy to Guoguo, and Guoguo using an enhanced Bomb Fruit to wipe out the three people and seven spirit beasts in one wave.
Regarding Li Zeyu, Shi Kuanshan's evaluation was 'average, lacking something,' because given Li Zeyu's family background, he should have done better, but he didn't.
As for Chen Yulu, Shi Kuanshan nodded slightly, appreciating her wisdom; she had almost figured out the difficulty of this Secret Realm assessment and provided a reasonable strategy. Following her strategy, it was possible to defeat the final Boss.
However, Shi Kuanshan did not give Chen Yulu a practical evaluation because she was not worthy, not in terms of status, but in terms of her strength; her basic qualities as a Beast Master were not up to par.
Chen Yulu's strength was truly too low.
Not to mention comparing her to top talents like Lin Chuan and Li Zeyu, even Tao Mengmeng, who was eliminated by Lin Chuan, was stronger than Chen Yulu.
If you say Chen Yulu is a 'study god,' her knowledge level certainly qualifies.
However, Chen Yulu did not efficiently and fully convert the knowledge she possessed into growth resources for her spirit beasts, nor did she transform it into their actual level and combat power.
Why was this the case?
As the President of the Qinghe City Beastmaster Association and a Level 57 Beast Master, Shi Kuanshan stated that he had seen too many such situations.
This situation was especially common among female Beast Masters.
Spirit beasts in their infancy usually have weak and unstable wills; they are prone to fear and retreat when encountering difficulties or repeated injuries, and they might slack off during training.
At this time, Beast Masters need to provide effective comfort and guidance.
Only by motivating spirit beasts through various means and making them persevere through arduous training can their maximum potential be unleashed. Once a spirit beast passes its infancy, the resources, effort, and time required to catch up in training will multiply, and in some cases, the spirit beast may never be able to close that gap in its lifetime.
And female Beast Masters, compared to male Beast Masters, often find it harder to be firm and are easily soft-hearted.
Seeing their spirit beasts injured or exhausted and disheveled from training, with teary eyes begging and whimpering, many female Beast Masters would soften, repeatedly altering their original training plans, reducing the training volume, lowering the training intensity, and continuously spoiling and indulging their spirit beasts.
Ultimately, the spirit beast's strength would only barely pass, unable to compare with those spirit beasts that truly endured arduous training.
Evidently, Chen Yulu was in such a situation.
One could tell from how she occasionally held her spirit beast, Yuanyuan Shu, in her arms instead of having it guard its surroundings; this was a Beast Master who overly doted on her spirit beast. While genuinely liking spirit beasts is a necessary quality for a Beast Master, excessive doting to the point of being unwilling to put them through arduous training is going too far.
Lin Chuan and Li Zeyu did well in this regard; they also loved their spirit beasts but would not be soft-hearted when it was time to train.
From the basic attributes, development, and skill proficiency of their spirit beasts, it was clear that both their spirit beasts had endured arduous training and the inhumane torment of using advanced cultivation nutrients.
As for Chen Yulu, Shi Kuanshan gave no evaluation, classifying her as a regrettable student.
However, for Lin Chuan, Shi Kuanshan's evaluation was:
"Not bad, rare."
Was this evaluation a bit low?
Not at all; this evaluation was actually very, very high.
Because Shi Kuanshan's evaluation was not based on commoner standards but on the standards of a noble family's Beast Master.
Lin Chuan, as well as Li Zeyu, were already qualified to compete with noble family Beast Masters.
Having seen many Beast Masters from noble Beast Master families, given three months, even Tier 3 spirit beasts could be cultivated by those family scions.
In terms of skills, noble families possessed Secret Skills researched and passed down for thousands of years. In the eyes of noble family Beast Masters, skills like Bomb Fruit, Water Wing, or Red Lotus Breath were all considered basic skills that required little research or practice; spirit beasts could even comprehend and learn them on their own, making them not difficult at all.
Compared to the scions of noble families, Lin Chuan was merely 'not bad.'
This 'not bad' primarily referred to the skill 'Assistance.'
Assistance requires the spirit beast to possess a selfless and dedicated mindset; even among noble family Beast Masters, few could get their spirit beasts to learn it.
Just as Shi Kuanshan and Liang Lu were writing evaluation reports for the candidates receiving special attention in the assessment,
A staff member rushed in to report the situation.
"President, there are currently 457 candidates remaining in the Secret Realm Space."
Twenty hours had passed since the Secret Realm assessment began, which started at 10 AM yesterday, and it was now just past 6 AM the next day.
Out of an initial 5,235 candidates, only 457 remained, roughly one-tenth.
Shi Kuanshan nodded slightly, a smile appearing on his face.
He was quite satisfied with this result and could boast to his old friends in the neighboring city, showing off a bit.
It was important to note that in previous years, it was rare for 300 people to remain in the assessment Secret Realm at this point.
Yet, this year's assessment difficulty was even greater than in previous years, and 457 candidates still persisted without being eliminated.
"That's enough. Unseal that thing and release it," Shi Kuanshan commanded.
The subordinate staff member nodded in affirmation and immediately withdrew to operate the specialized control console for the Secret Realm Space.
...
Secret Realm Space.
Lin Chuan continued to eliminate Terror Puppets, having lost count of how many he had killed.
In short, he had fought his way from the eastern corner of the town to the western corner, cutting a straight path through it.
Well, although Lin Chuan had already revealed his trump card, Bomb Fruit, exposing his ability to deal high burst damage, his pursuit ability was still lacking.
Therefore, Lin Chuan was primarily responsible for clearing out Terror Puppets.
As for candidates, Lin Chuan would not actively seek them out, but if they came to him, he would respond according to the situation.
If they came for treatment, he would operate normally; unless they tried to cause trouble, Lin Chuan would not attack.
During this time, there had indeed been two incidents of 'medical disputes.'
Lin Chuan would heal the other party's spirit beast, and then the other party would immediately attack him, trying to rob him, the 'big fat sheep.'
Fortunately, Guoguo was already on guard, having already condensed a miniature Bomb Fruit. The moment the opponent attacked, a miniature Bomb Fruit was instantly launched, followed by a full-version Bomb Fruit, returning the opponent to a state worse than before treatment, even more severely injured.
If they weren't coming for treatment but were specifically ambushing him, the 'big fat sheep,'
Lin Chuan would first try a normal Bomb Fruit to test the waters. If they could withstand it, then they could discuss teaming up. If they were willing to cooperate to fight the Boss, he would temporarily let them go and settle scores after the Boss was defeated.
If they weren't willing, he would directly send them off with an Assistance-enhanced Bomb Fruit.
As for weaklings who couldn't even withstand a normal Bomb Fruit, eliminating them was just that. What business did such weaklings have trying to scheme against him, the 'big fat sheep'? Wasn't that just seeking death?
On the other side, compared to Lin Chuan's lack of pursuit ability, Li Zeyu's pursuit ability was maxed out.
Relying on his flying beast-riding skills, Li Zeyu, riding his Tier 2 Level 1 Blue Feather Eagle, flew at high altitude, primarily searching for remaining candidates. As for Terror Puppets, if they were gathered in large numbers, he would also launch an accelerated dive with Water Wing; if there were only a few, he would simply ignore them.
For candidates, if they were strong enough to withstand his diving Water Wing, Li Zeyu would stop and invite them to team up to fight the Boss.
If they agreed, that was best, and Li Zeyu would share more information with them.
If they didn't agree, then so be it; Li Zeyu would turn and leave, not lingering in battle.
Why didn't he eliminate those unwilling to cooperate like Lin Chuan did?
The key was that Li Zeyu didn't have Lin Chuan's recovery ability.
At this point, cooperating against the Boss was crucial, and engaging in battle with strong candidates still carried the risk of severe injury to his spirit beast.
Although he could seek treatment from Lin Chuan, Li Zeyu was too embarrassed to ask Lin Chuan for treatment repeatedly.
Besides, Lin Chuan's treatment fees were so exorbitant that even he couldn't afford multiple treatments.
Speaking of which, Lin Chuan's title had changed from 'Poisonous Milk Tyrant' to 'Black Doctor,' a name many candidates had given him.
Many of the eliminated candidates, those who had overcome their sadness or whose results had met their expectations and were in good spirits, shared their assessment experiences on forums and widely spread stories of Lin Chuan's 'black doctor' practices.
The forums were abuzz with discussions, and Beast Masters from previous cohorts were quite envious.
Lin Chuan's treatment fees were expensive, and he might be 'black,' but he did provide actual treatment, essentially giving candidates who should have been eliminated another chance to challenge.
Why didn't they have such a battlefield medic in their cohorts?
If they had, would their scores have been a bit better? Would they have been able to get into a better Imperial Beast University?
Getting back to the main topic, back to the Secret Realm Space, and back to Li Zeyu.
For strong candidates, he would treat them appropriately, but for those whose spirit beasts were instantly killed by his single diving Water Wing, he had the same thought as Lin Chuan: if they were instantly killed, then they were eliminated. These weaklings had no business participating in the subsequent Boss battle, saving them from causing trouble.
Because the previous few hours were deep into the night, even with night vision equipment, the overhead view was not as good as during the day.
After 5 hours of hard work, it was finally dawn.
Li Zeyu ultimately found a total of 23 candidates willing to cooperate and team up to fight the Boss. As for the others, there was no need to mention them.
The time was 6 AM in the outside world.
This was the agreed-upon meeting time for Lin Chuan, Li Zeyu, and Chen Yulu.
However, just as Li Zeyu was about to mount his Mutated Blue Feather Eagle and fly towards the meeting point,
The barely lit sky suddenly became dim. It wasn't a physical dimness; the sky itself hadn't changed much. This dimness was in the mind and visual field, as if the entire world was covered by a thin black veil.
A terrifying low-pressure enveloped the entire town.
An inexplicable panic and fear uncontrollably surged from the hearts of all candidates who had not yet been eliminated.
Lin Chuan's situation was slightly better, as he had Sakura's Healing Aroma protecting him, and the Illusion Attribute energy within it helped him block a lot of the Demon Attribute energy's mental pollution.
"The Boss has appeared."
Lin Chuan looked up, gazing at the sky above the center of the town.
A void vortex formed there, with thin, ethereal black mist emerging from it.
The remaining Terror Puppets from all corners of the town were attracted, turning into streaks of light and flying into the black mist vortex at an imperceptible speed.
Gradually, a colossal Terror Puppet, fully 20 meters tall, materialized and condensed from within the vortex.
It landed with a crash.
With just one step, the giant Terror Puppet crushed a black stone-domed house.
"Roar, roar, roar!"
The giant Terror Puppet roared, its Pressure covering the entire town.
The ground trembled, and invisible black energy, Demon Attribute energy, spread and enveloped the entire town.
All candidates and spirit beasts felt a tightening in their chests, their bodies stiff, and an uncontrollable surge of fear from the depths of their souls.