"You… want me to choose?" Gonez asked. He started getting a little suspicious about it all. Why would a person who didn't plan on losing, actively get a disadvantage?
"Yeah, just choose. I will take part in whatever little competition you want me to," Ning said and waited.
Gonez was still suspicious, but he decided to take up on the offer since he saw nothing but stupidity in Ning's decision.
"Very well then. Miss Maeve, I would like the competition to be regarding beasts. Whoever can give the most information about beasts wins," Gonez said.
Maeve was a little surprised that Ning let Gonez choose such a thing. Still, she asked him one more time, "Are you okay with that, Teacher Ning?"
"Yes, please proceed with it," Ning said with a smile.
Outside in the crowd, the students and teachers got a little confused.
"Isn't that an alchemy teacher? I don't see any badges on him. Is he really going to take part in such a skewed competition?" somebody asked.
"Just look at their chests. Teacher Gonez has a Silver star, while this teacher doesn't have anything. He must've been worried about losing really badly, so he decided to lose in the best way he could, in a match where the other person had the advantage," a student said.
"I think so too. That way, he won't be humiliated when he loses. Honestly, I might have done the same in that situation. That's a great idea for any future matchups," another disciple said.
"Damn it! Why is Teacher Gonez trying to take the only teacher that can help me away from me? I don't even care about beast mastery so much!" Nilo said from the side.
"Isn't it because of your heritage? He must've learned about it somehow," his friends said.
"What? I've been trying to keep it hidden. I even denied it when teacher Ning asked me," Nilo said.
"Well, it's hard when you talk to your father so much," his friends said.
Reya was also watching the competition with some worry in her mind. There were other teachers who were also looking at it, wondering why Ning was doing what he was doing.
"Look at him show off. Trying to act like he's a small fish," a voice spoke from amongst the elders.
"What do you mean, Teacher Rigot?" someone asked.
The green-robed lady shook her head and said, "nothing. I'm just talking to myself."
"Silence!" Maeve shouted, quieting the audience with a single word. "Teacher Ning and Teacher Gonez have decided to have a knowledge battle regarding beasts."
"I will now bring out 3 different beasts, one by one, and you will have to give as much information about the beast as you can one after another. Whoever stops from giving any valuable information loses," Maeve said.
She then flew to the area where the beasts were kept and brought back a small beast in a cage with her.
Ning and Gonez both looked at the beast and were a little surprised. "This is a Purple Horned Rabbit. I assume you know about it. Please start giving me one factoid about it that I wouldn't know from just looking at it."
"Who would like to go first?" Maeve asked.
"I will," Gonez said. Ning nodded towards Maeve to let her know he could go second.
"Very well. Please start, Teacher Gonez."
"Yes. The Purple Horned Rabbit's tail is actually a meter long," Gonez said. Maeve wasn't going to check it herself. Instead, she had a little book in front of her that she was reading.
"Correct. Teacher Ning," she asked.
"The horn of the rabbit can be used in alchemy to make poison," Ning said.
Maeve was a little surprised that he was going to the Alchemy route, but that was to be expected. She nodded and looked towards Gonez.
"Their claws are so strong that they can cut through steel," Gonez said.
"You can use their eyes to make pills that can improve your vision," Ning said, going for the alchemy route again.
"These rabbits can jump up to 30 meters high, due to their strong hind legs," Gonez said.
"You can make a very potent spirit wine using the rabbit's thick fat around this lower body," Ning said.
"Hey, you aren't even talking about the rabbit anymore. You can make those wines with any beast fat," Gonez complained.
Maeve thought for a bit. "That is true, Teacher Ning. Can you stick towards beast description?" she asked.
Ning just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Very well. A newly born Purple horned rabbit had furs that are strong enough to block a direct attack from a Level 3 Body cultivator."
Maeve quite turned book and saw that the information was correct. She nodded and looked at Gonez.
"Uhh… An adult Purple Horned rabbit's horn is strong enough to pierce through Low-grade defensive Spirit artifacts without using any of their cultivation bases," Gonez said.
"A female Purple Horned Rabbit can give birth to nearly 15 kits at once," Ning said.
"An adult Purple Horned Rabbit can get as big as 3 meters tall if they are let to grow in the wild," Gonez said.
"A Purple Horned Rabbits teeth are strong enough to chew through the bones of a Level 18 body cultivator," Ning said.
.
.
.
They both gave facts about the purple-horned rabbit for nearly 15 minutes before slowing down considerably.
" Uhh… The rabbits can smell blood from 3 kilometers away," Gonez said barely remembering the fact in time.
"Please be faster, Teacher Gonez, or it will be counted as your loss," Maeve said.
"Purple Horned rabbits can evolve to Dual Horned Immortal rabbits," Ning said.
Maeve quickly checked the book to see if that was true or not, but couldn't find any such information. "Um, teacher Ning, that information seems to be wrong," she said.
"No it's not!" someone spoke from the crowd.
Maeve looked towards the side with a frown on her face, but it immediately turned to a smile when she saw the person.
A Golden Starred, black-robed teacher walked forth and handed Maeve a book. She quickly read the book and was surprised. The information on the book was obscure that anyone could have missed it.
"Thank you, Teacher Keng for lending me this book," she said to the newly arrived old man.
"It's nothing. I'm just trying to keep the competition fair," he said with a smile and turned towards Ning for a moment before leaving back towards the audience.
"Sorry about that, Teacher Ning. I have indeed confirmed that what you said was a fact," Maeve said. "Your turn, Teacher Gonez."
Gonez tried to think of more facts, but he had run through all of them. 'Why does an alchemist know so much about beasts?' he couldn't help but curse at Ning.
'Why is the damn old man helping him too?' he thought.
"Teacher Gonez, please hurry up," Maeve said from the side.
"Uh…" he tried to think of something, but everything he knew was already said by both him and Ning.
"Um, their blood is a little darker shade of red," Gonez said.
"Please give a better fact," Maeve asked and waited, but Gonez couldn't come up with anything.
"Time is up. The first round goes to Teacher Ning," Maeve said.. "Please wait while I bring the next beast."