Chapter 73 Chapter 73 "Now you shouldn't hate water anymore...
The airboat carried everyone to a smooth landing at the temporary base of the Fifth Beast Taming Academy in Lanyuan.
After nearly ten hours of high-intensity competition, all the students looked exhausted.
Jiang Qing carried Zhu Tianba, who had become completely weakened and shrunk to the size of a child due to the side effects of the "Resurrection Liquid", and followed the crowd down the floating boat.
Renata and Ma Chengying quickly organized the team, counted the number of people, and confirmed the losses.
In this battle, the Fifth Academy lost a key player and three members of the school team, suffered seven serious injuries, and countless minor injuries, but ultimately ranked third in points. This result was barely acceptable, especially given the unfavorable start and mid-game targeting.
"Everyone, return to the dormitory and rest immediately. The medical team will come to check your injuries one by one. Gather in the conference room at 4 pm for a post-battle review." Renata's voice was tired, but still clear and powerful.
"yes!"
Everyone responded and then dispersed.
Jiang Qing said hello to Meng Yanlang, Zhao Peng and others, then carried the unconscious Zhu Tianba back to his dormitory and packed up.
After being promoted to a key member, she now has her own single room and no longer has to share a dormitory with other school team members.
Jiang Qing carried his luggage into the new dormitory, locked the door, and set up a few simple early warning devices.
Renata, Ma Chengying and other members of the school team all knew what Jiang Qing was going to do. From Luo Xialin's previous report, everyone already had a preliminary understanding of Zhu Tianba's peculiarities, so they did not disturb her.
Jiang Qing, who was finally the only one left, took out the energy isolation bag from the innermost part of his backpack.
The energy lock at the mouth of the bag was still firm, but the black frost on the surface seemed to have thickened a little, and the restless pulsation of the crystal inside could be felt through the bag.
Zhu Tianba seemed to sense something. Even in his deep weakness, he unconsciously hummed twice and his little nose twitched.
Jiang Qing quickly released Zhu Tianba.
Now with half an hour left in the 12-hour cooldown period, it has recovered a little.
She gently placed Zhu Tianba on the soft carpet, then took a deep breath and unfastened the lock of the energy isolation bag.
The moment the bag was opened, black gas so thick that it was about to become substantial floated out from the beast core source power.
In an instant, the entire room was shrouded in black fog.
The deep blue stone was as boundless as the sea, and irregular multi-faceted blue crystals automatically floated up, and the dim light illuminated Jiang Qing's face.
Jiang Qing only felt that thoughts like a tide rushed into her mind and impacted her spirit.
Just when she was about to lose consciousness, Zhu Tianba struggled to get up and rubbed the back of her hand with his slightly wet little nose.
Seeing that Jiang Qing had no reaction, it set its eyes on the thing in her hand.
After thinking for a moment, he opened his mouth wide and bit Jiang Qing's hand.
The moment the crystal touched its mouth, it automatically merged into its body, followed by a burst of energy.
"Ugh..." Zhu Tianba groaned violently, and fell on his back with his limbs stiff.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Qing felt his consciousness gradually returning. When he opened his eyes again, everything around him had returned to normal.
There is no black gas and no crystals.
Even Zhu Tianba's body disappeared automatically.
Jiang Qing looked around and found that it had triggered the automatic return to city skill, so she recovered it and nurtured it in her contract seal.
The property of sea water is to embrace everything, so the seal of the contract this time is not as hot as last time.
After confirming that Zhu Tianba had safely returned to the contract space and that the heart-pounding fluctuations had completely disappeared, Jiang Qing breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down on the carpet, feeling exhausted.
After resting for a while, she forced herself to stay awake and, as she had previously requested from Teacher Chen Ming, sent an emergency contact request through the encrypted communication equipment in the dormitory.
It wasn't long before the video request was connected.
The light screen simultaneously showed Teacher Chen Ming's serious face, Assistant Teacher Zhou Qi's concerned eyes, and... Principal Ji Changsu's seemingly lazy but lightning-fast gaze.
"Principal? You're here too?" Jiang Qing was a little surprised.
"With such a big commotion, how can I not come and listen?" Ji Changsu smiled and tapped the table lightly with his fingertips.
Jiang Qing calmed himself down and ignored the principal's presence. He reported to Chen Ming in detail about the encounters with the mutated sawtooth shark, the abyss whirlpool, and how Zhu Tianba finally absorbed a strange black crystal. He also omitted specific terms such as the beast core source power and only described the phenomena and results.
After listening to her narration, Chen Ming on the other side of the video nodded.
Assistant Instructor Zhou Qi quickly operated the instrument next to him. "Zhu Tianba's contract link signal...is increasing significantly in intensity, and the energy pattern has changed. It appears to be heading towards the water system."
Chen Ming nodded, as it was within his expectations.
"Is there anything abnormal in its physical data?" She said this to Zhou Qi who was standing next to her.
"No negative status has been detected yet," Zhou Qi said, looking at the data stream. "On the contrary, its energy level is steadily rising, and its vital signs are very active. It is undergoing a profound transformation."
Ji Changsu kept staring at the data on the screen. She was very happy, but she couldn't show it.
The evolution level of Zhu Tianba on the screen has reached 57.14%, which means that she is one step closer to returning home.
"Pay close attention to its condition during the transformation," Chen Ming's voice came from the light screen.
Her fingertips tapped softly on the virtual keyboard. "The environment in Lanyuan is relatively mild, perfect for it to stabilize its new abilities. Don't schedule high-intensity training these days. Let it slowly integrate water energy in the contract space. You can also use this time to gather your competition experience and adjust your condition."
Zhou Qi added, "I've already sent you the basic training plan for adapting to water-based abilities. When Zhu Tianba wakes up, you can start by training on sensing water flow and manipulating water elements in a small area."
"By the way, it can now mobilize both space and water energies at the same time. We must be careful to avoid conflicts between the two forces. It is best to practice them separately in the early stages, and then try to integrate them after becoming proficient." Zhou Qi said.
Ji Changsu remained silent until the two had finished explaining. Then he slowly began, "The competition in the Cold Sky Territory will begin next Monday. The glacier land is not as good as the sea of the Blue Abyss. The low temperature and ice-type spirit beasts will be the main challenges."
Jiang Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise.
The strategies for the competition are usually guided by the team leader and the instructor, but I didn’t expect that the principal would give personal guidance.
Jiang Qing nodded in agreement and took the principal's reminder to heart.
Just as she was about to inquire about the specific schedule of the Linxiao Domain, a prompt suddenly popped up on the terminal. It was a post-war review notice sent by Huoqiu Mountain, with a detailed casualty statistics and points analysis table attached.
"Then I'll go prepare for the review first, and report to you guys if there's any progress." Jiang Qing stood up and said goodbye. After closing the communication, he immediately opened the terminal to organize the game records.
The review lasted until late at night, and it was already one o'clock in the morning when Jiang Qing returned to the dormitory.
She forced herself to check on Zhu Tianba in the contract space. The little guy was still sleeping, but his breathing was steady. A light of water waves and silver light was faintly flowing around his body. It was obvious that he was digesting the power of the water-attributed beast core source force.
After confirming that everything was correct, Jiang Qing could no longer resist the sleepiness. After a simple wash, he fell asleep and fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.
I slept soundly.
It wasn't until around three in the afternoon that she was awakened by the alarm clock she had set.
The first thing I did after waking up was to immediately sense the contract space.
Zhu Tianba has woken up and is much calmer.
The energy of the water made it much more stable, and its size was also a size larger than before.
Jiang Qing was not used to its appearance, so he discussed it with Zhu Tianba and decided to keep it at its previous size.
The aura emanating from Zhu Tianba's body had surprisingly reached the fifth level of the Earth Rank, and he only needed an opportunity to break through to the sixth level of the Earth Rank.
What surprised Jiang Qing even more was that the spiritual connection between her and Zhu Tianba became closer and clearer. She could even vaguely feel its excitement and desire to control the newly acquired water power.
"Now you shouldn't hate water anymore, right?" Jiang Qing joked.
"I don't hate it anymore." Zhu Tianba said seriously.
After saying that, it released a small stream of clear water, which swirled around it and Jiang Qing flexibly, and finally dissipated silently in the air.
Its control over water energy seems to be more handy than imagined.
Jiang Qing quickly passed the water magic information Zhou Qi gave her to Zhu Tianba's mind through the seal of contract.
"We'll practice this in a moment," Jiang Qing said.
"Kang!" Zhu Tianba nodded vigorously to show that he understood.
Jiang Qing went to the cafeteria to eat something, and then took Zhu Tianba to the team's temporary medical point for a comprehensive examination.
The results showed that Zhu Tianba was in very good physical condition, with abundant and stable energy and no hidden dangers.
Jiang Qing breathed a sigh of relief, and the school team member responsible for examining Zhu Tianba also breathed a sigh of relief.
The main team is already missing three players. Although Jiang Qing is a substitute, she and her spirit pet must not encounter any more accidents, otherwise their Fifth Beast Taming Academy will really be ranked last again this year.
For several days, Jiang Qing spent most of his time taking Zhu Tianba to conduct adaptive training in the safe waters designated by the academy.
Zhu Tianba's resistance to water has disappeared, replaced by an affinity for it that makes him feel like a fish in water.
Not only can it skillfully condense and control water flow to form basic forms such as water shields and water arrows, it has even begun to try to combine the power of space with water capabilities, such as creating a short-lived "Water Mirror Gate" for short-distance refraction and displacement, or compressing water cannons and directly bombarding targets through space jumps. Although the success rate is not high, it has demonstrated amazing potential.
The other team members are also actively recovering from their injuries and summarizing their efforts for improvement.
Based on the gains and losses of the first game and the existing personnel situation, Renata readjusted the configuration and tactics of the main team and the school team.
During this period, the specific rules for the second Lingxiao Domain competition were also distributed to each college.
The Linxiao Realm, as its name suggests, is an extremely cold world covered by eternal ice and snow. It is also the area where the Second Beast Taming Academy is located.
The second game added some new gameplay to the rules of the first game.
In summary, teams from each academy will be randomly placed at different outposts on the vast glacier, with a limited number of "ice cores" hidden in the arena.
"Ice Core" contains a points bonus.
At the same time, members of other teams who are eliminated can also obtain half of the "Ice Core" points carried by their team.
......
"Tracking, guarding, fighting... this battle tests our comprehensive abilities." Renata pointed at the map on the screen during the pre-battle meeting. "The extreme cold weather is the primary threat. The cold resistance of our spirit pets and the team members' ability to survive in the wild are crucial."
"Our advantage lies in this," she looked at Jiang Qing and Zhu Tianba, "Tianba's spatial ability and newly acquired affinity for water may have unexpected effects in a glacial environment. Ice is also a form of water."
Jiang Qing nodded. These past few days, she had been focusing on training Zhu Tianba on his perception and influence of "ice".
Although we cannot directly control the ice yet, we have already achieved initial success in sensing the water flow under the ice, searching for energy fluctuations emitted by the ice core, and using spatial capabilities to avoid some natural dangers on the ice field.
Ma Chengying added, "According to intelligence, Hai Yun from the First Academy possesses a Polar Fox. Although Yan Ling from the Third Academy specializes in Fire, her secondary pet, the Lava Monitor, is both cold-resistant and capable of burrowing. Yue Zheng from the Fourth Academy possesses a Earth-Splitting Rhino, which packs a powerful punch on the ice... They're all tough opponents. We must be even more cautious."
......
Early in the morning of the departure day, the teams from the five major academies gathered again.
The airboat carried them to the Cold Sky Region at the northern end of the continent.
Through the porthole, you can see the landscape below gradually changing from green to yellow, and finally into an endless expanse of white.
The strong wind blew ice chips against the porthole, making a rustling sound.
As soon as we got off the airboat, a biting cold wind blew like a knife, taking away all the warmth in an instant.
The team members mobilized their energy to resist the severe cold and released cold-resistant pets.
Jiang Qing held Zhu Tianba in his arms, and the clothes he bought from Yuan Xiaogu played a big role.
Teams from each college were picked up by the competition aircraft and sent to different starting points.
The landing point of the Fifth Academy is a sheltered ice valley with an icefield outpost nearby. This is their initial stop.
Several people quickly activated the outpost.
Renata quickly ordered, "Team members, split into groups of three and conduct a scouting operation within a five-kilometer radius, centered on the Ice Valley, searching for ice core energy fluctuations or suspicious traces. Maintain open communications and seek help immediately if any danger arises."
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