67: Chapter 67 A Genius Has Arrived in Our Qinglan City

Seeing the Flame Claw Beast crush the Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat with such overwhelming force, Wu Zhen fell silent for a moment.

His fingers tightened slightly around the tablet; he first glanced at the spirited Flame Claw Beast in the center of the arena, then glanced at the Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat lying on the ground, wailing and having lost its combat capability in a short time.

Fifteen seconds.

From the Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat's charge, to being repelled by Sharp Claws, until it was blasted away by a surprisingly powerful flame attack—it was clean and efficient, without a hint of hesitation.

Such a clean and decisive victory is not common in the Primary Beastmaster certification assessment.

But Wu Zhen's silence did not last long.

He had worked in this line of business for over a decade and had seen all kinds of Beast Tamers and pet beasts; while this situation was rare, it was not unprecedented.

He had seen high-spirited youths bring pet beasts with exaggerated strength to one-shot the Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat;

There were also Beast Tamers so incomprehensibly steady that they only came for certification after raising their pet beasts to the second rank, ninth stage, making them virtually unrivaled among their peers;

There were even Beast Tamers who took unconventional paths; although their pet beasts were not strong, they relied solely on defense to drag out the three minutes and still passed the assessment.

The Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat, as a standardized assessment tool mass-bred by the Association, has a strength stably maintained at the second rank, first stage; using it to test a Primary Beastmaster's basic combat ability could not be more appropriate.

In short, having seen all kinds of pet beasts, Wu Zhen's threshold in this regard had long been raised; unless the Beast Tamer themselves was exceptionally talented, it was difficult to surprise him.

But how could there be so many Beast Tamers with high inherent talent?

Many thoughts flashed by in an instant; Wu Zhen picked up the tablet, tapped the screen quickly, and finally looked up at Lin Chen:

"Congratulations on successfully passing the Primary Beastmaster combat assessment."

"Your certification information and combat recording will be submitted to the Association's Audit Department for final review. Once approved, your Beast Tamer level information will be updated in real-time within the Association's internal system and relevant federal databases."

"The review usually takes 1-3 working days. Please keep an eye out for system notifications or text messages."

"You may go home and wait."

"Alright, thank you." Lin Chen left the Beast Tamer Association building directly.

The process of certifying as a Primary Beastmaster was much easier than he had imagined. When he searched online, the netizens' reviews were not like this.

Some netizens claimed that the level of nervousness for the Primary Beastmaster assessment was similar to taking a driver's license test, which made Lin Chen anxious.

If one were to rank the most nerve-wracking things in life, taking a driver's license test would definitely be at the top.

But once he actually stepped into the Association building to start the assessment, Lin Chen wasn't nervous at all; instead, he was eager to try and full of anticipation.

"Is this what it feels like to be a genius?" he muttered.

"Gagu?"

The Flame Claw Beast keenly caught the keyword and quickly raised its head.

Genius? What genius? Was Lin Chen calling it?

Come to think of it, for some reason, since yesterday, the Flame Claw Beast always felt it had become smarter again.

It was more adept at using its skills, and with a little thought, it could even spot flaws in how it used its skills before.

It had never seen a genius as excellent as itself.

As long as it kept up this rate of progress, it wouldn't be long before it could wash away its humiliation, and by then it would be able to... hehehe.

As it thought about this, the Flame Claw Beast lowered its head, placed its claws on its hips, grinned, and laughed out loud.

Lin Chen looked over, puzzled.

What's wrong with this kid?

Looking at the inexplicably laughing Flame Claw Beast, then at the Songsong Dog quietly curled up in his arms, Lin Chen couldn't help but sigh: "Nuomi is still the most worry-free."

"Ying wu~"

Nuomi raised its eyes to look at him, then slanted a glance at the chuckling Flame Claw Beast, and continued to nuzzle into Lin Chen's arms.

In the evening, the afterglow of the setting sun gilded the outer walls of the Beast Tamer Association building with a thin edge of gold.

Inside the building, most of the public service windows had closed, and the daytime hustle and bustle had gradually faded, but the internal office areas were still brightly lit.

In the Audit Department, inside an office cubicle filled with monitors and filing cabinets.

Cai Hua rubbed his somewhat sore eyes, picked up the coffee next to him that had long since gone cold, and took a big gulp; the bitter taste perked him up slightly.

As an ordinary clerk in the Audit Department, his work was boring and tedious:

He had to perform final manual reviews in the system backend for the large number of Beast Tamer level certifications, information changes, and task settlements submitted daily.

There were dozens of applications that needed his review today, most of which were Primary Beastmaster certifications, a few were Intermediate, and there were none for Advanced.

This was normal; Advanced Beast Tamers could hold important positions in any unit in Qinglan City, and their certification process was more complex and much less frequent.

He moved the mouse and clicked on the next application material awaiting review, and the system automatically popped up the applicant's basic information window.

Name: Lin Chen; Age: 18; Application Type: Primary Beastmaster Certification; Registered Beast Tamer Time: 44 days; Current Certification Status: Apprentice; Submission Time: Today, 9:47 AM; Assessor: Wu Zhen; Preliminary Assessment Result: Pass

"Hmm?" Cai Hua's gaze paused on the age and registration time. He subconsciously adjusted his glasses, leaned forward slightly, and moved closer to the screen. 44 days? Did he read that right? It only took 44 days from registering as an Apprentice Beastmaster to applying for Junior certification?

Cai Hua's first reaction was that he had misread it, and he couldn't help but mutter: "Could it be that I'm hallucinating from working too much overtime recently?"

He rubbed his eyes hard and slapped his face with his hand until he felt a slight pain, then opened his eyes again—it was still the conspicuous 18 years old and 44 days.

At this moment, Cai Hua sat up straight, and the sleepiness and numbness on his face were replaced by a seriousness and faint excitement of having discovered a major situation.

He realized one very important thing—he might have discovered an extraordinary talent.

So he took a deep breath and immediately clicked on the assessment combat recording attached to this application.

The video started with the battle room scene, with both pet beasts confronting each other. Cai Hua dragged the progress bar and skipped directly to the start of the battle.

He saw the Giant-Toothed Mountain Rat, serving as the assessment pet beast, charge, and then... Cai Hua's eyes slowly widened. Slap, repelled, fireball, explosion, down.

The entire battle process clearly showed a time on the recording's timer: 00:00:15. Fifteen seconds! Battle ended!

As a Primary Beastmaster, Cai Hua was not good at fighting, but as an auditor, he could roughly judge the strength of a pet beast through the assessment time. This Flame Claw Beast was very strong, enough to go toe-to-toe with his own pet beast. Within five minutes, it could defeat his pet beast five times. Perhaps more.

"Are this year's rookie Beast Tamers all this monstrous?" he muttered, then immediately took out the internal contact phone, dialed, and said in a stern voice, "Supervisor, I feel like you need to come to the Audit Room."

"A genius has appeared in our Qinglan City."