Chapter 88: Chapter 84 The End of Shu State Cup (Additional Chapter)

Because there were no school competitions the next day.

Chen Xing simply asked the coach for a day off, saying he wanted to rest for a day.

Coach Kuang readily agreed, telling the big contributor to rest well.

After looking up a lot of information online, Chen Xing found that nutritionally rich, which is to say higher energy level monster meat, was more filling.

He had never bought high energy level monster meat before, but this time Chen Xing decided to splurge.

Last time, he saw N69 Mad Thunder Yak Beef selling for 33,000 per 500 grams.

“Boss, do you not have any of that Mad Thunder Yak Beef from last time anymore?”

Chen Xing went to the same shop as last time, only to find that where the Mad Thunder Yak Meat used to be, there was now N61 Xuan Bone Ink Bear Meat priced at 28,000 per 500 grams.

The owner was a skinny and pale man wearing glasses, who looked less like a butcher and more like a teacher educating students in a school.

In response to Chen Xing’s question, the owner put down his phone and apologized, “I’m sorry, boss, the Mad Thunder Yak Beef sold out a long time ago. If you need it, you can place a preorder with me. It should arrive in about half a month’s time. It will be 10% more expensive than the regular price because the travel expenses aren’t cheap. I hope you understand, boss.”

“Every so often, the kind of monster meat we sell changes; it’s usually freshly slaughtered and transported here from the Exotic Region, and we have to pay hefty transit fees.”

Chen Xing thought about it: Qing Stone Fish Meat was 400 per 500 grams, and for the price of one 500-gram piece of Xuan Bone Ink Bear Meat, he could buy seventy 500-gram pieces of Qing Stone Fish Meat.

Currently, Taotie needed to eat forty or fifty 500-gram pieces of Qing Stone Fish Meat per meal.

Unless the Xuan Bone Ink Bear Meat provided a better cost-performance ratio than the Qing Stone Fish Meat, it seemed like too much of a loss.

“Bro, how much is the transit fee for meat transported from the Exotic Region?” Chen Xing asked unconsciously, then realized he had misspoken.

The owner didn’t mind at all and generously provided the answer, “It’s expensive, around 40% of the transit fee, I’d guess. The prices of these meats are all set by official guidelines. If you really want to eat to your heart’s content, you’d have to go to the Exotic Region. There, the meat is much cheaper, almost half the price.”

“However, getting these meats here isn’t easy. We have to obtain various quarantine certificates and follow the official pricing.”

“Then give me three 500 grams of bear meat.” N61 monster meat was not cheap.

Chen Xing couldn’t afford to buy too much at once, so he bought a variety of meats of different energy levels, purchasing some of each based on every 10 energy level difference.

After buying the meat, he went on to purchase other ingredients and, returning home, Chen Xing directly cooked all of the most expensive Xuan Bone Ink Bear Meat.

If even the most expensive Xuan Bone Ink Bear Meat couldn’t bring a significant increase in fullness, then it was likely that other lower energy level meats would be even less effective.

After preparing the Intermediate Pet Food, a day-long waiting Taotie couldn’t wait to dine.

Taotie stopped after eating just two 500 grams of it.

Chen Xing felt relieved in his heart, it seemed his guess was indeed correct, higher energy level monster meat could replace a larger quantity of lower energy level monster meat with a lesser amount.

But… the price was a bit expensive.

Chen Xing pondered that unless he could buy the meat directly in the Exotic Region, as he heard from the shop owner today, the price would be about half of what it currently was.

Even though it would still be a bit expensive, it would be within a reasonable range of price increase.

After all, the reason why Qing Stone Fish Meat was so cheap was because of mass domestic farming that had driven the price of fish down.

Besides Xuan Bone Ink Bear Meat, there was other monster meat. Chen Xing simply cooked all of it in batches over the next few days to check how much of each type he’d need to eat to find the most cost-effective one.

After sorting all that out, Chen Xing took Taotie to the school in the afternoon for skill training.

The school team area was empty at this hour. Seeing Zhou Hao’s social media updates, they seemed to have all gone to the site of the Shu State Cup.

The Grand Vortex Skill proficiency was almost grinded to perfection, so he decided to grit his teeth and finish it today!

The minigame for the Grand Vortex Skill was pretty simple and could be completed with just a swimming pool.

Moreover, the game wasn’t difficult, requiring only continuous repetitions to increase proficiency.

At six o’clock in the evening, when Taotie once again picked up a tennis ball from the bottom of the pool.

Grand Vortex Skill proficiency +1.

Intermediate Skill: Grand Vortex (Perfect) (0/3000)

The skill finally broke through to perfection. Chen Xing breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t just Taotie that was tired; he himself was exhausted from the repetitive throwing of the ball and coordinating the training.

But at last, he had achieved the milestone of perfecting an intermediate skill’s proficiency.

To master a perfect-level Intermediate Skill in less than three months, that talent must be considered top-notch!

Just before school ended, the coach returned to the school team with the players.

Seeing Chen Xing, who had just finished training and was cleaning up the pool, Coach Kuang remarked thoughtfully, “Don’t overdo it, a systematic break is fine.”

“You’re really grinding right after a fight today!” Zhou Hao was stunned. Was this person really so driven?

Today, when he went to watch the matches at the arena, he also harbored thoughts of slacking off.

After all, daily Beast Taming training was exhausting, not just for the beasts but mentally stressful for humans too.

Hearing that Chen Xing had taken the day off, he thought Chen Xing wanted to rest at home, but it turned out he came to school to continue training!

Chen Xing was embarrassed; he couldn’t very well say that he had only come in the afternoon and had only trained for four hours.

But ever since he could see the skill’s Proficiency Level, the improvement with each minigame was visually apparent.

This feeling of exhilaration was indescribable, and he couldn’t help but continue training with Taotie, losing track of time.

If it weren’t for the Grand Vortex Skill reaching perfect proficiency, he might still be training now.

But someone had leaked today’s events.

People saw Chen Xing, who had been impressive in yesterday’s match, secretly pushing himself in training on the school grounds today, keenly preparing for tomorrow.

Many of his schoolmates corroborated this, claiming they saw Chen Xing heading toward the school team area around noon, not leaving until almost the end of the school day.

Some people were speculating whether Chen Xing would continue to play from the start tomorrow.

Once this rumor got out, the accuracy jumped to 99.7%.

In a large hotel not far from the arena, the Yan Chuan Middle School team.

“Are you sure the news is true?”

“It’s true. Lots of people saw it. I have a cousin who goes to Azure Dragon Middle School, and he confirmed it’s true.”

“That kid’s Beast Taming Level isn’t high, he’s definitely planning to work overtime and train more.”

“All right, proceed as originally planned!”

The next day, on the round-of-sixteen competition stage.

Looking at Tian Xuechuan taking the field on the opposite side.

At the same time, a question mark popped up in the heads of the four teammates from Yanchuan Middle School.

The battle lasted for over half an hour.

It ended in a tragic victory for Azure Dragon Eighth Middle School, and after three years, they made it back into the top eight.

During this battle, Senior Wen Jin’s giant tree-turtle put on a dazzling display, breaking through two Beasts at a critical moment with the Advanced Skill, Wild Forest Dance.

The entire venue was in an uproar, countless raging vines flailed around like living tentacles, violently lashing at all life within reach!

This battle made Wen Jin famous in one fight, shining as a genius youth.

After entering the top eight, Azure Dragon Eighth Middle School’s luck seemed to run out, drawing a difficult match for the quarterfinals.

Their opponent for the quarterfinals was Tianwu Middle School.

Tianwu Middle School was touted as the favorite to win this year, not just because all four of Tianwu’s Beasts had evolved.

But also because Tianwu Middle School displayed an overwhelming advantage in a preliminary clash with Azure Dragon First Middle School.

Three of their Beasts had mastered Advanced Skills! Moreover, their combat quality was very impressive, nearly matching Wen Jin’s performance.

In the school team classroom, with his hands propped up on the desk, Tian Xuechuan expressed nonchalantly, “I’ll go for tomorrow’s battle.”

Chen Xing was about to object when Kuang Shiyi made a decisive call, “Tian Xuechuan will continue to fight tomorrow.”

“You’re still young and you have two more years to compete in the Shu State Cup. Tian Xuechuan is older than you, let him gain more experience.”

“That’s right, Old Tian and I have better teamwork, let him go,” Wu Ju also chimed in.

When he heard the goddess mentioning his name, Tian Xuechuan’s spirits lifted, and he quickly stood up straight, “I guarantee I’ll perform well tomorrow!”

Chen Xing smiled wryly, understanding what they meant.

They didn’t want him to be associated with a losing record. In this way, even if they lost the final competition, he would just be a substitute who had never officially played.

“Coach, should we let Taotie continue to start off with the Great Flood tomorrow?” Chen Xing still wanted to try.

“No need! They have an Ice Element Beast that has mastered Ice Seal Zero Boundary. If you dare summon a Great Flood, it will freeze your Beasts in the water. That’s all, you’ve already played a big role in this year’s Shu State Cup,” Kuang Shiyi said.

The next day, Azure Dragon Eighth Middle School faced Tianwu Middle School.

Azure Dragon Eighth Middle School was defeated by Tianwu Middle School, managing to eliminate only one Beast.

Although Chen Xing’s Azure Dragon Eighth Middle School was eliminated early and didn’t make it to the finals.

There was still a representative from his family continuing to compete in the tournament.

While others were still shocked by Chen Lingya’s strength, Chen Xing had already seen through his sister’s powers!

Compared to Azure Dragon Eighth Middle School, Wanhai Middle School was particularly impressive this year.

Chen Lingya led Wanhai Middle School through the battles, meeting Tianwu Middle School in the finals after defeating Azure Dragon Seventh Middle School.

On that day, spectators at the venue just felt that the temperature was very cold, and the blizzard almost never stopped.

The TV audience saw a white ghostly figure silently appearing behind one opponent after another, like a snowfield phantom.

In the end, Wanhai Middle School decisively defeated Tianwu Middle School to take this year’s Shu State Cup championship.

After this battle, the sales of the Azure-Eyed Snow Leopards skyrocketed in Shu State.

…

“Human.” A deep and husky voice came from behind.

The young researcher’s hand trembled, nearly misplacing the syringe he was about to inject.

Frowning uneasily, he looked at the talking monster before him.

“Human.”

The eagle-headed creature had opened its sharp eyes at some point and was staring coldly at the researcher.

The researcher felt his hands tremble slightly.

Some monsters can speak human languages; mostly parrots and crow species, and very few other monsters can mimic human speech.

But these are usually beast-shaped, unlike the six-winged humanoid monster with an eagle’s head before him, speaking human language, which gave him a vaguely terrifying uncanny valley effect.

“Don’t make a fuss, it has some of the bloodline of the omni-death crow, learned to mimic human speech when it was very young,” said the project manager as he walked over.

The young researcher didn’t ask about its origins, he had been here for a while now.

After spending some time here, he knew that this was a large monster research facility privately established by Tianlan Pharmaceuticals.

Interbreeding a large variety of different monster species was just the beginning; there were also certain experiments that were more cruel and violent.

The purpose of the experiments was probably to create Beasts with strong innate abilities.

His mentor told him that forces like Tianlan Pharmaceuticals were not the only ones, and many powers around the world must have similar research in secret.

It was an unspoken rule; unless exposed, no one would voluntarily reveal it.

He had thought about leaving, but the generous bonuses and salary on one hand, and the strict management control on the other, it would require a six-month prior application to leave.

Boom!

Another loud noise came from deep within the lab.

The metallic floor underfoot shook slightly.

Feeling the vibrations through the soles of his feet, the young researcher was anxious. He did not know what was being researched so deeply inside; in just a few days since he had been here, he’d already heard several such sounds.

He had asked his mentor about it, but his mentor advised him not to ask too many questions and simply focus on his work.