Chapter 41: Chapter 41 Lingya’s Choice

Jincheng High School, school team.

Coach Fu Chang of the Jincheng High School team clapped his hands and stepped aside, revealing the girl behind him.

“This is Chen Lingya, the new addition to our school team. For the time being, she will be on the reserves, until…”

“Coach Fu, the principal said that I was to become an official member of the team,” Chen Lingya interrupted him.

Fu Chang’s face changed. The principal had, of course, informed him, but he had his own reasons for wanting to proceed differently. Students in private high schools were incredibly spoiled; especially those on the sports team knew their personalities all too well.

His plan was to start Chen Lingya off in the reserves and then find an opportunity later to promote her to full member.

A sneer came from within the group, “Just anyone can become an official member? Coach Fu, I don’t think she’s even fit for the reserves. Better to just let her get lost.”

Chen Lingya looked at the person who had spoken, extended her little finger, and hooked it lightly, “Let’s have a match. If I lose, I’ll leave immediately. If I win… you get lost from the school team!”

Several others egged them on, “Lu Ming, fight her.”

“Right, if I were you, I’d take the bet.”

“Be a man and accept, or else I’ll look down on you.”

Hearing the jeers from his teammates, Lu Ming felt annoyed. He and Zhou Hanxue were cousins, and she had always wanted to join the school team. He had heard that his cousin and a few other girls had been targeting Chen Lingya, and that his cousin’s accident might have been somewhat related to this girl.

But for some reason, the adults at home didn’t pursue the matter further. However, this didn’t change his dislike for Chen Lingya, which was why he had made malicious remarks just now.

“Coward, I thought you had more guts,” Chen Lingya scoffed.

Lu Ming’s expression darkened, “Fine.”

He glared at Chen Lingya viciously, refusing to believe that he couldn’t beat a girl from a poor family.

Chen Lingya summoned her Holy Spirit Snow Leopard, Chi Yu, who seemed to sense its master’s emotions, fixing a cold, threatening gaze on the opposing Qiushou King Bear.

Chi Yu’s broad and sturdy paws stomped the ground.

Winds blew from all directions, the fierce gale mixed with bone-chilling ice spikes and blizzards.

The temperature of the entire field plummeted by more than twenty degrees in an instant, as Chi Yu’s agile form silently merged with the heavy snow, blending perfectly with the surrounding world.

A blanket of snow covered everything in sight, turning the world a blinding white, causing the other three spectators to sit up straight at once.

One of them swallowed hard, “What skill is this?”

“It looks like Snowfall Cascade…”

“Your Snowfall Cascade can do this?”

“Perhaps a perfect-level Snowfall Cascade might be able to,” the only girl in the trio murmured.

But isn’t Snowfall Cascade an intermediate skill?

A perfect-level intermediate skill? By someone of the same age???

“This is bad,” the tall and thin boy suddenly said.

The other two turned to him, confusion in their eyes.

“Lu Ming is done for.”

They were all teammates and had sparred often, so they had a rough idea of each other’s strengths.

Three minutes later, the blizzard gradually subsided, leaving only the thick snow that piled three feet high on the ground. The Qiushou King Bear lay in a pool of blood, its fate unknown.

Its limbs were drenched in blood, the fur on its back had been peeled open by some sharp instrument, and its spine was severed, revealing the bone so white, turning a living bear into a dead one.

Fu Chang hurried forward to check on the King Curled Horn Bear’s state, “It’s still breathing.”

He quickly contacted the school doctor, fearing that Lu Ming’s Beast Taming would be gone if he were even a bit later.

Lu Ming’s face was ashen, and he looked at Chen Lingya in disbelief, both shocked and angry.

“Out of kindness, I spared your beast’s life. You should thank me,” Chen Lingya said with her arms crossed over her chest, “And remember, as we agreed before, get out of the school team.”

Fu Chang turned to look at Chen Lingya, “Chen Lingya, Lu Ming, he…”

“Teacher, why keep such trash if he can’t even defeat my beast? Isn’t that just wasting a spot? The school team only needs four people anyway, so he is now superfluous.”

Fu Chang fell silent; then from not far away, a voice was heard. “Just as Chen Lingya said, Lu Ming is to leave the school team, and Chen Lingya will take his place as a member.”

Fu Chang shuddered at the sound and looked in the direction of the voice, “Yes, Principal.”

Watching Chen Lingya walk away shoulder to shoulder with the principal, the three members of the school team who had been watching the battle remained silent for a while, exchanging looks and a bitter smile.

The abilities of Lu Ming and the four of them were almost equal; the beast’s state and the arena could all influence their victory or defeat.

If the new teammate could easily take down Lu Ming’s beast, then naturally, she could easily take down theirs too.

Moreover, it seemed her personality was somewhat nasty and difficult to get along with… Sigh.

“Feeling better after venting?” Wan Hailong said indifferently.

Chen Lingya, walking beside him, didn’t answer, just staring off into the distance with a somewhat vacant gaze.

“Don’t worry, this time it won’t involve your family.”

Chen Lingya suddenly spoke up, “Why did that assassin know my home address last time?”

Wan Hailong chuckled lightly, “He’s an assassin. It’s not strange for him to find out your home address, right?”

He continued, “Your talent is quite good. Haven’t you noticed that training your Beast Taming skills is easier for you than for most people? It takes others great effort to bring their skill proficiency to perfection, but for you, it’s not that hard. Staying here is just a waste of time; Jincheng is too small, the Exotic Region is where the prodigies truly compete.”

“After you get that item in the college entrance exams, we’ll arrange for you to go to the Exotic Region. Don’t worry about your family; our organization may not be official, but we don’t conflict with the authorities, and sometimes we even cooperate, so your family won’t be implicated.”

Chen Lingya remained silent, only staring straight ahead as confusion swirled in her eyes.

“Great Xia has stood for eight hundred years; when you reach a certain stage you’ll either have to join or venture out on your own. Eventually, you must make a choice. Our organization has already shown much goodwill; you should consider it carefully.”

“Besides, your father’s illness can’t be delayed any longer, and there’s your younger brother who just started high school. Isn’t it better to support him once you are stronger? You live in that police apartment now, which has much better security than where you lived before. You don’t need to move back; that apartment will be transferred directly into your father’s name.”

After a long while, Chen Lingya’s light voice carried on the wind, “I understand.”

…

In recent days, the most critical task for the school team has been preparing for the first evolution of the three senior members’ beasts.

They did not hide the process from the three new reserves; over these days, Chen Xing also learned quite a bit about beast evolution.

The most important aspect of Beast Taming evolution is “materials”—collecting precious materials.

Precious materials have a broad meaning: plants and minerals rich in spirituality, vital organs from high-energy level beasts, and even some special gases are all classified as precious materials.

If one chooses an evolutionary path, the school and the Teaching Department will each sponsor one precious material; that makes two.

The rest is up to the Beast Tamers to figure out; those who can afford to collect on their own, and those who cannot, I hear, could apply for an educational loan from the Teaching Department.

However, precious materials are not cheap. Although Chen Xing had not looked into it, one could infer this from the prices of skill orbs and monster meat…

Besides collecting precious materials, one must also choose the “place.”

Here, “place” refers to the special location needed for evolution. For example, some beasts need to evolve by bathing in a volcano, others by being frozen in the polar ice caps—these are considered common. I have heard that some special evolutionary paths require collecting the seven emotions and six desires, which means slowly gathering these emotions in places where worldly desires are strongest.