Chapter 69 (Part 2)

Zongshan.

After watching the sunrise, the group took the cable car down the mountain and continued on the return train.

Xu Ling sighed as she looked out the window at the scenery. "Oh, when I think about it being Monday again and having to go back to class and memorize lessons, I just wish I could live on the top of the mountain and never leave..."

Xia Muqing: "Okay, the college entrance examination is only a few days away. After the exam, let's go out and have fun."

Hearing her say this, Xu Ling perked up instantly and scrambled out of the car seat. "Hey, hey, hey, that's just right. A few days ago, I saw a travel route online that passes through several cities. The Beast Tamer Association is also planning to co-host an event. By checking in at each city, you can earn medals and redeem them for prizes!"

"Let's go together, we have an appointment!"

Xia Muqing: "Okay, but it depends on whether Xiaofeng and the others can wake up."

Xu Ling nodded repeatedly: "That's for sure."

Having agreed on where to go after the Gaokao, both of them couldn't help but look forward to the upcoming exam. Xu Ling counted the days on his fingers, "Two days of academic subjects, one day of Xuan Beast History and Beast Taming Knowledge... and finally, the finale, the Xuan Beast Strength Assessment."

"The previous ones were all written exams, but for the final one, I don't know how the exam will go this year."

Jiang Li came over and heard them talking about the college entrance examination. She also joined the topic with great interest: "It shouldn't be a group battle, right?"

"In recent years, profound beasts have become increasingly popular. Coupled with the expansion of the Beast Taming Academy, there are tens of thousands of new Beast Tamers every year, many times more than before. Since the year before last, we've stopped using the group competition method for selection. That leaves too much room for randomness and is prone to manipulation, which isn't fair."

Xu Ling: "So is it the same model as in previous years, using basic ability tests and scoring?"

Jiang Li shook her head. "I don't know. But this model has also been criticized by many people. They say the measurement method is too rigid and can't detect the true combat qualities of the mysterious beasts. As a result, many college students who pass the exam have high scores but low abilities."

Xia Muqing touched her chin and said, "No matter what, the college entrance examination should be conducted in the most universal way possible without human interference."

This is an important exam that determines the future development of the candidates. Generally speaking, everyone only has one chance in their lifetime. It certainly cannot be like the subject selection, where the city finds some judges and teachers to give the scores.

Otherwise, there would be many more people like Liu Pan who relied on bribery at a later stage to obtain the qualifications for the subjects.

Lu Wenzhen: "I heard that it seems to be mainly based on basic quality scoring, and on this basis, virtual battles have been added."

Virtual battle?

The term was unfamiliar to everyone present. Xu Ling hesitated, "Is it like in a VR game, fighting a simulated mysterious beast?"

Xia Muqing had some impression of the simulated mysterious beasts. The training ground they used before had this function, which could call up the images of many mysterious beasts and let them use simple skills and moves for practice reference.

However, the attack methods of the simulated mysterious beasts are too rigid, and their intelligence and adaptability are greatly limited by AI. They can often only be used as a reference and cannot be used as a real combat training object.

"Hitting that thing is like hitting a wooden stake. What kind of score can you get from it?"

Lu Wenzhen shook his head. "That's because you haven't seen the most cutting-edge intelligent AI. I heard that the Yandu University Research Institute team has developed a new AI driver that can perfectly match simulated images and recreate live battles."

"The most important thing is that the AI ​​has a growth mode. This means that the more profound beasts it defeats, the more flexible and powerful it will become."

"Yan Da has gathered research institutes from across the country and fed the AI ​​like crazy for several months. It's probably grown into a big devil by now... If it were to really fight us, it would probably be like a senior from college bullying a weak opponent..."

Others: “???”

Is this polite?

Xia Muqing's eyes flickered slightly.

Researched by Yandu University?

Then, could she ask Cheng Zizhuo and Chi Zi about the situation?

…

When she returned home that night, Xia Muqing called Cheng Zizhuo.

Cheng Zizhuo was also unequivocal: "You mean the Ark system? I know, it's the result of research and development by my senior sister and her team."

"Yes, you know her too. It's Chi Zi. Remember during the last competition? You were wondering why she could see through the Gale Hound's potential. It's because this research and development includes an energy monitoring system that predicts the strength of the profound beast through more detailed classification and deeper wave detection."

"She used this to recruit students, and her accuracy reached 99.9%. She found so many good candidates that the principal was so happy."

"But this system also has its flaws. It can only detect strength, not potential. Therefore, the traditional method of identifying mysterious beasts cannot be abandoned."

"The program is already in operation. We'll first collaborate with local security departments on an upgrade, and then commercialize it. The bidding ceremony was launched last week, and many people attended... The specific operating model is still secret and won't be disclosed to the public. But if you ask, my sister might be happy to discuss it with you."

Xia Muqing's eyes lit up when she heard this, and after hanging up the phone, she was still sighing for a long time.

The world is truly changing every day, and research on mysterious beasts is constantly making new breakthroughs. It is foreseeable that once this energy monitoring system becomes fully popularized, it will bring about significant changes to the beast taming world.

For example, in terms of classification, humans previously categorized Xuan Beasts simply based on whether they had evolved, into unevolved, first-order, and second-order. Those above the second-order were exceptionally powerful and were called Divine Beasts, but the distinctions between second-order and second-order, and between Divine Beasts, were still very vague.

But in the future, things will be very different.

Since Cheng Zizhuo said it was a trade secret, Xia Muqing did not ask Chi Zi for the specific information. After all, she couldn't make things difficult for the other party.

However, just two days later, when she was in class at school, she was taken to the training ground by Teacher Yuan along with her classmates.

Teacher Yuan: "Students, the Beast Tamer Association has announced an important piece of news today. Please remember it carefully and digest it thoroughly. This not only has implications for your Beast Taming Knowledge Exam, but it may also directly impact your combat assessment scores..."

Teacher Yuan was speaking at the top of the class, and the students below were wailing.

"What's going on? Are you going to let me live? The exam is almost here and you're adding new knowledge points?"

"The exam papers should have been released by now. Is there still time to correct them?"

"Don't even mention it. It's always better to believe something than not to believe it. What if this question comes up on a test and you don't memorize it and can't answer it? Will you regret it later?"

"Let's listen to what the teacher says first. The Beastmaster Association must be making another big move..."

Xia Muqing was in the crowd, looking up at Teacher Yuan as he took out a round instrument and scanned it over an unevolved yellow tear monkey.

The instrument beeps and lights up white.

Energy value: 4890

Teacher Yuan called another student over. Her mysterious beast was a first-level evolved blue parrot. The instrument scanned the blue parrot and a yellow light lighted up.

Energy value: 42800

"Not bad," Teacher Yuan looked at the number and nodded with satisfaction. "You've trained this blue parrot very well. It's almost evolved to the second level, right?"

The girl received the compliment and nodded happily: "Yes, teacher, I plan to give it a sprint next week."

Teacher Yuan: "Don't be impatient yet. Wait a little longer. Wait until the value exceeds 50,000 before evolving. This is the standard energy threshold discovered by experts. After exceeding this value, the success rate of the Xuan Beast's second-level evolution will be greatly increased."

The girl was stunned for a moment, then her eyes widened in surprise.

This invention is great!

In the past, when people tried to evolve a profound beast, they relied on their own estimations or listened to the beast's descriptions of its physical sensations, which felt like crossing a river by feeling the stones. But now, the profound beast's energy could be quantified, making it much easier for them to find breakthrough points in the future.

The girl excitedly picked up the blue parrot and bowed slightly to Teacher Yuan: "Thank you, teacher!"

Her family wasn't wealthy, just an ordinary working-class family, so gathering the necessary materials for evolution wasn't easy. This instrument could help her avoid a failed evolution, a significant investment in terms of both financial resources and time, as well as the protection of the profound beast.

Teacher Yuan then shouted to the audience, "Who has a second-level mystical beast?"

The crowd was packed, and the students were all quite excited, but unfortunately, there were too few people who possessed second-level profound beasts at this point. In the end, only a few people raised their hands, and one of them was called to the stage by the teacher.

The boy who was called out was from a wealthy family. His mysterious beast was a lightning rabbit. After evolving to the second stage, its entire body was covered with lightning arcs. When it kicked its feet, it moved at a speed so fast that it was invisible to the human eye.

Teacher Yuan took the instrument and scanned it.

Energy value: 51000

This time the light was red.

"Over fifty thousand? Wow, that's impressive..."

"As expected of a second-level profound beast, it's more than ten times more powerful than the unevolved Yellow Tear Monkey!"

The students in the audience were whispering to each other, looking at the Lightning Rabbit with envy. The boy was also very proud, holding his chin high.

But Teacher Yuan looked at the instrument in his hand and frowned little by little.

"Mr. Qian, your profound beast... evolved too hastily. It hasn't laid a solid foundation, has it?"

The boy was immediately displeased when he heard this: "How could that be? We have a very good foundation! A value of over 50,000, isn't that enough to prove it?"

Teacher Yuan didn't say anything, but just opened his beast-controlling space.

A majestic tusked elephant walked out slowly, shaking its trunk and letting out a low, long roar.

"This is my profound beast. It transformed into a second-level form three years ago."

Teacher Yuan said this as he scanned with the instrument.

Energy value: 91000

"Did you see that?" Teacher Yuan raised his brows slightly. "A normally evolved second-level profound beast should have a value between 60,000 and 70,000. Then, as time goes by, its abilities will continue to increase, gradually approaching 100,000."

"100,000 is a watershed. According to the latest evaluation standards issued by the Beastmaster Association, a second-level profound beast with an energy value exceeding 100,000, or a first-level profound beast that has mastered the rudiments of a divine skill, can be called a quasi-divine beast. When the energy value exceeds 150,000, the profound beast can be officially recognized as a divine beast, and the corresponding one is the wild beast king in the alien space."

"Of course, there are strengths and weaknesses among Divine Beasts and Beast Kings, and the subsequent numerical standards are still under further negotiation. But Mr. Qian, your Lightning Rabbit has clearly evolved to the second stage, but its value is only 50,010, just a fraction above the standard threshold - do you still say this is a normal evolution?"

There was a burst of laughter from the audience, and the boys on the stage blushed and looked extremely embarrassed.

He angrily picked up the Lightning Rabbit and turned to leave, but Teacher Yuan stopped him and said earnestly, "I'm not trying to embarrass you. Think about it, if this invention were used in the college entrance examination, wouldn't the examiners be able to analyze the truth?"

"The situation has changed. The previous path of blindly pursuing high-level evolution is no longer viable. From now on, college entrance examination scores will definitely take into account both immediate combat power and future potential. As beastmasters, we must not sacrifice the potential of profound beasts for the sake of immediate benefits!"

After being scolded by Teacher Yuan, the boy walked off the stage with a shameful look on his face and ran to the back of the team.

On the stage, Teacher Yuan sighed helplessly, put the instrument in his hand next to the venue, and waved to the students.

"From now on, students, you must study this energy standard method carefully. I've placed the measuring instrument here. Please come and test it when you have time so that you can have a good understanding of your own profound beasts."

"And over there, those are several sets of simulated link equipment. The exam includes a simulation test, so during this final period, the teacher will take you in turns to experience the virtual link. Don't be nervous, it's similar to a normal battle, so just play normally."