Chapter 79 (Part 2)

Although Xia Muqing and Xu Ling did not experience any adverse reactions when exposed to the radiation from Yugukongyan during the day, they were still very tired at the end of the day. In addition, this energy has the effect of promoting deep sleep. As soon as their heads touched the pillow, they fell into a deep sleep in a short while.

But at the same time, the lights were on in thousands of homes across Daxia. The whole family was too nervous to sleep, staring with red eyes, waiting together for the moment when the results would be announced.

The refresh button on the computer screen was almost broken, and the small circular circle of the cache kept spinning. The hearts of thousands of candidates' families were in their throats, and they stared at the screen without blinking.

Finally, the hands of the wall clock clicked and moved to 12 o'clock in the morning.

The official website for score inquiry also flashed a few times, and suddenly a huge prompt box popped up.

Countless families of test-takers were instantly cheered up. Mothers hurriedly handed over their admission tickets, while fathers carefully typed in their test numbers and IDs, their fingertips trembling slightly. The test-taker next to them kept urging them, "Hurry up, hurry up! Oops, wrong! It's 286..."

[Candidate Xue xx, total score 710, overall ranking 1098 in J Province]

The student let out a long sigh of relief, then blushed and clenched her fists. "Over 700! Mom and Dad, I did pretty well!"

"Now, there will be no problem attending the Beast Taming Academy!"

The whole room was instantly enveloped in a joyous atmosphere. The family of three was so excited that they couldn't sleep. Mom ran to the kitchen to get the sweet wine she had prepared long ago, while Dad took out his phone and started calling everyone in his address book one by one: "Hey, Lao Li, how did your son do on the test? Oh, my bad boy didn't do well, only 710 points out of a total of 800..."

Similar scenes are playing out in thousands of families, but some are happy while others are sad.

"Oh no, how come I only got 620 points... I'm screwed. I can't get into a good beast taming school now."

"I only got 430 points?! How is that even possible?! I didn't forget to fill in the answer sheet—wait, did I fill in my admission ticket number for the Mystical Beast Knowledge subject?"

"I'm 580...hiss, my ranking in J Province is already outside the top 10,000. Can I really get into the Beast Taming Academy? It's a bit risky..."

The candidates were either happy or worried, and countless families were worried about this moment. At the same time, major media outlets, like cats smelling fish, became active.

"Where's the score list? Did you get it?"

"Who's this year's top draft pick? What's going on? It's been over an hour, and you still haven't got the data?"

"Hurry, the next door x media report is out, go copy it!"

A group of people were busy, and data flow was extremely fast in the information age. Soon, various headlines appeared on the Internet.

The most eye-catching and popular piece of news read:

[J Province's top scorer in the college entrance exam has just been announced! Total score: 789!]

When this news came out, it shocked many people.

...For example, Yuan Feiyu, who is sitting on the train berth at this moment, desperately holding up his mobile phone to try to find a signal.

"The signal in this damn place is so bad! It's been over an hour and I can't even log in to the official website!"

Yuan Feiyu waited anxiously for this day and even memorized her admission ticket number by heart. However, she didn't expect that she wouldn't be able to check her results due to signal problems. She was so anxious that she scratched her ears and cheeks and hit her head with her cell phone.

The people on the bunks next to him were stunned: "What's wrong, kid? Didn't do well in the college entrance examination? Think about it, there are more tests in life than just this one..."

As he was speaking, Yuan Feiyu's face froze.

He had been spinning his phone for a long time when a prompt box finally popped up:

[Candidate Yuan xx, total score 771, overall ranking 2 in J Province]

Before Yuan Feiyu could even raise the corners of her mouth, her face quickly darkened when she saw the huge words on the screen.

He looked like he had lost his mother, and no one around him dared to speak. Finally, a male student who was also taking the exam passed by and casually asked, "Hey, buddy, did you just get your scores too?"

"Didn't do well on the test? That's okay. I did terrible too. But if I can't get into the Beast Taming Academy, I can still do something else. Beast Taming is now integrated into all walks of life. Why not do something with the mysterious beasts... By the way, what was your score?"

Yuan Feiyu moved her lips, her voice soft and thin: "771..."

The boy was stunned for a moment, thinking he had misheard: "How much?"

7 points?

"771." Yuan Feiyu grabbed her hair tightly. "Ahhh, how could I score so much lower than her! I can't win in battle, I can't eat spicy food, and I can't even pass the cultural exams?"

"That's too much! I know I probably won't be first, but 18 points, 18 points!!"

"Not really, am I that bad?"

Boys passing by: “???”

The boy's face darkened. He glanced at the 771 on Yuan Feiyu's phone, then looked at the 475 on his own screen. After a moment of silence, he clenched his right fist silently.

"...Hey, are you looking for a fight?"

…

Lu family.

The lights in the big villa were on. In order to prepare for Lu Wenshen's exam results, Lu's father and mother were both at home, which was a rare occasion. The whole magnificent villa was filled with a sense of homeliness.

However, after seeing Lu Wenzhen's results, Lu's mother's expression became noticeably colder.

[Candidate Lu xx, total score 767, overall ranking 3 in J Province]

"Only third..."

Mother Lu tapped her long nails on the table and said unhappily, "When your father and I took the exams back then, we never got anything other than first place."

Father Lu stroked his chin and sighed, "As expected, if the Auspicious Cloud Beast doesn't evolve, it still won't work. How is it recovering now? Will it have the strength to try again next week?"

Although he asked the question, his expression and tone were close to commanding, and he carried the aura of a superior who had the final say.

Lu Wenzhen held the Xiangyun Beast and was silent for a moment: "It's okay."

The auspicious cloud beast was a little afraid of his parents. It jumped behind Lu Wenzhen and climbed onto his shoulder, revealing a small head made of mist. "Woo woo."

Father Lu slapped his thigh and said, "Okay, let's try again! I'll have them prepare the materials and find a better environment for you—"

Lu Wenzhen suddenly raised his head and said, "Dad, Mom, can we remove the 'Abyssless Mud' as the material for the Auspicious Cloud Beast's evolution this time and replace it with 'Five Elements Soil' and add a 'Seven Color Stone'?"

He always followed arrangements and seldom expressed his thoughts so directly. Father and Mother Lu were stunned for a moment, turned their heads and looked at each other, both a little surprised.

Mother Lu raised her delicate eyebrows slightly: "Who told you this?"

Lu Wenshen: "Xia...I thought of it myself."

His mind raced, "I think the earth-based power contained in the Abyssless Mud is too strong, and it doesn't quite mesh with the light and ethereal profound energy fluctuations of the Auspicious Cloud Beast. The Five Elements Earth, on the other hand, doesn't have a distinct profound energy tendency, so it might be more suitable for the similarly attributeless Auspicious Cloud Beast."

"The same principle applies to the seven-colored stones."

Lu Wenshen had carefully considered these words. On the one hand, he couldn't say it was Xia Muqing's suggestion, otherwise his parents, who always trusted authority, would never agree. On the other hand, Lu Wenshen knew that his training ability was far behind Xia Muqing's. Over the past few days, he had been researching and pondering, trying to understand Xia Muqing's deeper meaning behind changing these two materials.

The more information Lu Wenzhen looked up, the more frightened he became.

Xia Muqing's casual remark and the two materials he mentioned casually actually contained a lot of mysteries. He flipped through more than a dozen cutting-edge journals before gradually figuring out the significance of replacing the materials.

These two materials are definitely more suitable for the Xiangyun Beast than the original combination!

"Dad, Mom, just let me try it once!"

There was a long silence.

After a while, Mother Lu picked up the water cup beside her and took a sip. The coldness on her face melted away silently.

Father Lu also smiled a little: "It's not easy, you actually have your own research."

He turned around and looked at Lu's mother: "It's rare for my son to delve into research. How about letting him give it a try?"

Mother Lu crossed her arms, her expression still arrogant, but the corners of her lips curled up slightly.

“It’s not impossible.”

Lu Wenzhen looked up in surprise, but then his mother added, "But you have to convince the expert group yourself and get them to agree with your plan."

"A week later, I will ask for their advice. If the experts still recommend the original material combination, I will not change it."

"Well, do you still want to insist on revising the materials?"

Mother Lu's eyes were blazing, and even her expression gave people a lot of pressure.

She invited a team of experts to help her son cultivate the mysterious beast. They were all professors and scholars with considerable experience in the academic world. They were also arrogant and would not tolerate anyone finding fault with them.

Lu Wenzhen felt a headache just imagining the scene of having to make suggestions to the experts' plan, as if he had already foreseen the scene of himself being "besieged" by the experts.

But in the end, Lu Wenzhen said, "Okay."

He wanted to try anyway.

He didn't want to be left behind... so much, so far.

…

Early the next morning.

Xia Muqing drowsily opened her eyes. Xu Ling was still soundly asleep beside her. She rubbed her eyes, fumbled for the phone on the bedside table, and opened it to see—

Wow, 99+ unread messages!

"What's going on? What's the big deal?"

Xia Muqing was startled, and her sleepiness instantly vanished. She quickly clicked on the message and took a closer look, only to find that it was filled with congratulations.

She took a few glances before realizing the current situation.

"The exam results are out, and I'm the top scorer in the province?"

Xia Muqing's eyes widened slightly. After a moment, she excitedly grabbed Xu Ling's arm and shook it vigorously: "Xu Ling, Xu Ling! Wake up quickly, we forgot something important!"

Xu Ling mumbled in a daze and buried his head under the pillow: "What big deal can it be... I'll sleep a little longer, just a little longer..."

Xia Muqing: "The scores are out!"

Xu Ling: “……?”

Xu Ling suddenly sat up from the bed: "What the hell? What happened? Quick, let me see, what's the official website address -"

However, she didn't need to check the results, as the message from her parents on her phone had already told her the good news - her score was 743, ranking 48th in the province.

Xu Ling: “Yeah!!”

She hugged Xia Muqing and said, "Wow, Muqing, I got into the top 50 in the province! 743, my god, I never dreamed of such a high score!"

Xia Muqing smiled as she was shaken by her. The two of them were happy for a long time before they calmed down a little and started to look at their subject scores.

Xu Ling still suffered a loss in the academic subjects, with some points deducted from subjects such as the History of Mystical Beasts. Otherwise, with her strength in virtual combat, she would have achieved a higher ranking and score than this.

As for Xia Muqing...

The shining score of 789, only 11 points away from the full score, simply blinded everyone's eyes.