73: vs. Chen Yan (The End)

In the previous quarter-final match, although Chen Yan did not actively use his Innate Talent, based on Wuxiang's review and various discussions on the forum, Xu Yan had already formed certain speculations about it.

It increased the power of Spirit Beast skills and reduced the consumption when Spirit Beasts used their skills, and it was highly likely to be a passive-type Innate Talent.

It was an Innate Talent that looked unremarkable but was actually extremely powerful, possessing significant advantages whether in burst combat or endurance battles.

However, facing the current situation, this Innate Talent of Chen Yan's was unable to have any effect on the state of the battle.

Chen Yan's three Spirit Beasts were trapped: the Ice Rock Armored Beast was ensnared by the inescapable net Zhu Yan had set up with spider silk, the Frost-Whisper Ice Fox was suppressed in close quarters by Xiong Nian, who had elemental resistance, and the Ice Elemental Spirit was locked onto by Wuxiang's laser cannons and the swarm of Mechanical Beasts. Chen Yan's Innate Talent had no way to help any of his Spirit Beasts escape their current predicament.

Or rather, once the Ice Rock Armored Beast and the Frost-Whisper Ice Fox were held back by Zhu Yan and Xiong Nian, and Chen Yan himself was locked onto, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.

Relying solely on one Ice Elemental Spirit, it was simply impossible to simultaneously withstand Wuxiang's laser bombardment, the full firepower of the Mechanical Beasts, and the self-destruction of the Mechanical Beasts launched by the electromagnetic emitter. As long as Xu Yan commanded Wuxiang to launch an attack, it would be over.

He hadn't done so only because he had happened to encounter a Monarch-level Spirit Beast, and one that, like Xiong Nian, possessed a mental element. He simply wanted to let Xiong Nian practice and incidentally collect some information on Monarch-level Spirit Beasts.

On Chen Yan's side, after seeing Wuxiang's formation, he also understood that this battle was already lost.

He did not choose to concede directly; on one hand, his own pride would not allow it, and on the other hand, he felt somewhat awkward in his heart toward Xu Yan, the guy who had snatched away his friend.

That's right, Chen Yan was the "Ice Kid" that the Void-Fleeing Rat beside Lin Heng had once mentioned.

The two came from the same city. A genius from a prominent family met a commoner genius who had suddenly risen to prominence, stood on equal footing with him, and even defeated him. After experiencing various events, a deep friendship was forged between the two geniuses, who were both rivals and friends.

Originally, he had thought they would both participate in the assessment to enter the Combat Department of the First Academy, but in the end, he was told that the other party had not chosen the First Academy, but had instead run off to the Third Academy, which was famous for its Cultivation Department. This made him very confused.

During their subsequent interactions, the high-quality spirit food that the Void-Fleeing Rat would take out and lick from time to time, as well as the phrases it often nagged Lin Heng with, such as, "The spirit food is almost finished. Why hasn't school started yet? After school starts, you must hurry and hug that kid's thigh so Lord Rat's rations don't run out," made Chen Yan remember this "kid" who was very likely the one who had lured Lin Heng to the Third Academy, even before he knew Xu Yan's name.

After paying a certain price, he terminated his contract with the First Academy, retook the assessment, and finally succeeded in transferring from the First Academy to the Third Academy.

Although after the battle between Xu Yan and Jing Xing, Lin Heng discovered his abnormality, and he confessed his thoughts to him and learned the truth from him.

Knowing that the "culprit" behind Lin Heng choosing the Third Academy was not the "kid" in the Void-Fleeing Rat's words, but the Void-Fleeing Rat itself, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable when facing Xu Yan.

On one hand, he admired the achievements Xu Yan had made at his age and wanted to befriend him; on the other hand, he felt guilty for having misunderstood him before, even though the other party didn't know about this matter. With both feelings overlapping, Chen Yan conversely didn't know what attitude to take when facing Xu Yan.

This was also the reason why Chen Yan had been silent and hadn't even looked at Xu Yan before the battle started. It wasn't because of any arrogance or anything like that; it was purely because this youth, who looked cold and aloof on the outside but actually had a very rich inner life of emotions and thoughts, was struggling with whether or not to talk to Xu Yan.

As time ticked by, the Frost-Whisper Ice Fox eventually fell under Xiong Nian's bear paw, and the Ice Rock Armored Beast likewise dissipated into white light under the stacked burst of Zhu Yan's Light Shadow Strike, leaving only one person and one Spirit Beast on the opposite side.

Xu Yan met Chen Yan's eyes and discovered that there was no intention in the other's gaze to concede, so he understood the other's choice.

Following Xu Yan's command, the laser cannons floating beside him and the ten surrounding Mechanical Beasts fired simultaneously. After a violent explosion, the two returned to the arena.

Looking at the white-haired youth opposite him, who was clearly expressionless but still made Xu Yan feel the conflict and goodwill in his thoughts, he was just about to turn around and walk off the arena when he heard the other party's voice in his ear.

"Sure, let's get to know each other. Can we add each other as friends?"

There was a noticeable stutter in his words, as if he had finally made up his mind, which made Xu Yan inexplicably think of those socially anxious classmates he had met when he was in school before.

Regarding new clients, especially big clients like this who had the ability to contract Monarch Rank bloodline Spirit Beasts, although he wouldn't take the initiative to befriend them, since the other party had already opened their mouth, Xu Yan naturally wouldn't refuse.

After quickly adding him as a friend, Xu Yan walked off the arena.

Out of the corner of his eye, Xu Yan saw that after Chen Yan stepped off the stage, Lin Heng, who had once traded with him, walked to his side. The Void-Fleeing Rat on the other's shoulder seemed to say something, and was then so angered by a sentence from Chen Yan that it kept jumping up and down on Lin Heng's shoulder.

As fellow semi-finalists, Xu Yan's battle had already ended, and what followed was the battle between Lin Heng and the other student who had entered the semi-finals.

Although the battle had not yet begun, Xu Yan's intuition told him that the final battle of the entrance test would be between him and the other party.

Returning to the Experimental Building, this time, Xu Yan did not return to the laboratory to conduct experiments immediately after the battle ended, as he had done before.

On one hand, it was because he had already obtained certain results previously. To put it bluntly, even if he only ended up with his previous results, this project could already be considered a success, and there was still plenty of time left, so there was no need to be too rushed.

On the other hand, it was because he needed to prepare for the final. Although the results weren't out yet, Xu Yan still chose to trust his gut feeling and treated Lin Heng as his next opponent. Facing the rare Space Element Spirit Beast, the Void-Fleeing Rat, as well as whatever Lin Heng might be hiding, it would be easy to capsize if he weren't careful.

Although at the very beginning, Xu Yan didn't have much interest in this entrance test—at first, it was because everyone had to participate in this entrance test, and although his interest wasn't very high, he didn't want to lose casually, so he just kept winning all the way through.

Now that he had already made it to the finals and was only one step away from the championship, losing would give Xu Yan a feeling of incompleteness, and his originally mild obsessive-compulsive disorder inexplicably flared up.