84: Chapter 84 The Birth of a Humanoid Beast!

Chapter 84: The Birth of a Humanoid Beast!

[Ding!]

[Quest Completed: Obtain first place in the Freshman Grand Competition]

[Rewards Obtained: 100 EXP, 5 triple exp cards, basic physical fitness enhancement]

[Quest Settlement: A total of thirty-five pet beasts have submitted to the player]

[Rewards Obtained: 175 EXP]

Lin Chen hadn't fallen asleep yet when the familiar system voice suddenly rang out, waking him up completely.

"Can I actually get some sleep or what?"

He opened his eyes, rubbed his temples, and began to receive his quest rewards.

With two quests completed in succession, plus the one he had already completed back in the secret realm, he now had a total of 275 allocatable EXP.

In other words, in just three days, he had gathered half of the EXP required for Songsong Dog's evolution.

Secret realms were great; he had to visit them more often.

Indeed, Lin Chen's next goal was to evolve Songsong Dog.

As his second pet beast, Lin Chen naturally couldn't favor one over the other; he had to treat each of them fairly.

More importantly, although Songsong Dog currently had some self-defense capabilities, its combat strength was far below that of the Flame-Spine Tyrannosaur. It needed to acquire decent combat power as soon as possible.

At this critical juncture where the dark crisis was about to sweep the globe, it had to evolve into Angewomon as soon as possible to do its part in saving the world.

With a thought, Lin Chen allocated all his EXP to Songsong Dog's evolution bar—(275/500).

At his current rate of acquiring EXP, it would take two to three weeks at most to fill Songsong Dog's evolution bar.

By then, he could use the 300 academic credits awarded for first place to exchange for evolution materials, and Songsong Dog would successfully evolve.

Yes, as the champion of this Freshman Grand Competition, he had received a total of 300 academic credits, which had already been credited to his account.

Lin Chen sighed. "If only the points earned in the secret realm could be exchanged one-to-one for academic credits."

Afterward, he logged into the academy's official website's Credit Exchange and Service Center, and a meticulously categorized, dazzling mall interface appeared before his eyes.

Academic credits had an extremely wide range of uses at Qiming Beast-Taming Academy, covering almost every aspect of study, life, and training.

From all kinds of daily necessities to luxury goods; from the most common energy cubes and ordinary wound medicines to various nurturing resources labeled with rare ratings—

Secondly, credits could be used to exchange for services. For example, paying for "one-on-one expert guidance" to invite teachers or upperclassmen for targeted tutoring.

In addition, credits had some special uses, such as offsetting records of tardiness, early departures, or even a certain number of absences.

It could be said that at Qiming Beast-Taming Academy, academic credits were the hard currency.

Lin Chen didn't waste time on ordinary items and directly typed "holy radiance crystal core" into the resource search bar.

The light screen flickered, and the search results popped up.

[holy radiance crystal core (Tier 3)]

[Attribute]: Light [Description]: A crystalline resource that condenses pure light energy, usually formed in extreme light-element environments or from the remains of certain light-type creatures.

[Credits Required for Exchange]: 350

[Stock Status]: 4 (In Stock)

"350 credits—in stock." Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.

After all, it was a Tier 3 resource, and of the extremely rare light element, so the holy radiance crystal core was quite expensive. Fortunately, he had a full 300 credits and only needed to obtain 50 more to exchange for it immediately.

In the academy, there were various ways to earn credits: attending classes, completing tasks, challenging rankings, and even assisting the academy with certain research or tests.

With these thoughts flashing by, Lin Chen temporarily put aside Songsong Dog's evolution and turned his attention to the final quest reward: basic physical fitness enhancement.

Lin Chen was somewhat curious.

The system's previous rewards were mostly related to pet beasts or resources; this was the first time it had directly strengthened the Beast Tamer himself.

Without hesitation, he focused his mind and muttered silently, "Use reward."

Buzz.

The next moment, a numbing sensation arising from the deepest part of his body, like a weak electric current, instantly flowed through his entire body.

This feeling was not painful; instead, it carried an indescribable warmth and comfort, as if parched soil was being soaked by a gentle spring.

The warm current flowed through his limbs and bones along with the rushing blood.

The process lasted for about a dozen seconds.

The warm current gradually subsided, and the numbing sensation faded.

Lin Chen slowly opened his eyes. In the darkness, his eyes seemed much brighter and more spirited than before.

He took a light breath and clenched his fists, his knuckles making a soft popping sound.

At this moment, an unprecedented surge of energy rushed through his body, sweeping away all the fatigue from his three days of survival in the secret realm.

He tried to focus his attention and looked out the window.

The moonlight was not bright tonight, and the starlight was sparse, yet Lin Chen felt that the outlines of objects in the dark had become much clearer.

He could clearly see the fine patterns on the windows of the dormitory building nearby, the trajectory of the shrub leaves trembling in the night breeze by the path downstairs, and even faintly catch the blurry shadow of a nocturnal creature darting through the distant woods.

Vision, hearing, smell, touch—all of his senses seemed to have been enhanced in an all-around way.

Most importantly, strength.

Lin Chen could clearly feel that his physical strength had already far exceeded the scope of an ordinary person, but he needed to test it to see exactly which pet beast tier it corresponded to.

He threw off the blanket and flipped out of bed.

His movements were light and agile, landing without a sound.

The academy was quiet late at night. The streetlights on the main road emitted a faint yellow glow, and most of the buildings were hidden in the darkness, with only a few windows still lit.

The night breeze was slightly cool, carrying the fresh scent of plants.

Lin Chen walked toward the small open-air training ground that came standard with the dormitory area. The facilities there were simple, but they were enough for some basic tests.

Passing through a small grove of trees, the outline of the training ground appeared in the night.

The training ground was not empty.

Yun Chuxiu was wearing the same light-colored casual clothes from during the day, with his coat casually draped over the railing next to him.

He stood in the center of the training ground, his posture upright, completely different from his usual lazy self.

Floating in front of him was an ancient-looking Flame-Forged Spirit Sword, which had dark red, irregular patterns flowing across it.

This was Yun Chuxiu's initial pet beast, a very rare fire-type pet beast.

The blade of the Flame-Forged Spirit Sword vibrated slightly, emitting a clear, resonant hum.

Yun Chuxiu held his fingers together like a sword and gestured in the air. The spirit sword moved accordingly, sometimes thrusting rapidly like a spiritual snake emerging from its cave, sometimes slashing down like Mount Tai pressing down, and sometimes tracing complex trajectories in the air, bringing waves of scorching air currents as it accurately struck the energy targets.

Chih!

Clang!

Boom!

The targets were struck, making dull, heavy sounds.

Fortunately, the soundproofing of each training ground was excellent, so the commotion here wouldn't affect the sleeping students.

Yun Chuxiu had a focused expression, his tightly pursed lips revealing a sense of seriousness. Sweat soaked the stray hairs on his forehead, reflecting slightly under the starlight.

Obviously, he had been training for quite some time.

Seeming to sense someone approaching, Yun Chuxiu paused his movements, and the Flame-Forged Spirit Sword flew back to his side with a "swoosh," floating quietly.

He turned his head and saw Lin Chen standing at the entrance of the training ground.

Their eyes met.

A flash of embarrassment instantly crossed Yun Chuxiu's face. He raised a hand to rub his nose and gave a couple of dry laughs, his tone returning to his usual slightly teasing manner, though a trace of unnaturalness could be detected if one listened closely: "Cough, cough, I had a bit of insomnia tonight, so I just came out for a casual stroll."

As he spoke, his eyes darted toward the nearby targets that were still shaking slightly, and he quickly withdrew his gaze with a sheepish smile.

Lin Chen stared at the awkward-looking Yun Chuxiu.

He remembered very clearly that this roommate of his had said from the very beginning that he was a Buddhist-style slacker who just wanted to drift through life.

Now, it seemed that was not the case.

Lin Chen nodded as a greeting, then walked straight to the other side of the training ground, where several heavy punching bags used for testing raw strength stood.

He was eager to know his current limit.

Could he arm-wrestle with Zhao Siwen?

Under Yun Chuxiu's puzzled gaze, Lin Chen stood in front of a vertical punching bag that was over half a person tall.

He closed his eyes slightly, adjusted his breathing, and felt the surging power inside his body.

The next moment, he opened his eyes, his gaze calm.

There was no running start, no shout of gathering strength to the limit; he simply lowered his waist, pulled back his right arm, and the strength of his entire body naturally converged toward his right fist like flowing water.

His muscles tensed, and his bones and tendons resonated.

Finally, he threw a punch!

The movement was clean and neat, with no flashy tricks.

The fist tore through the air, bringing a low, short sonic boom.

Bang!!!!

An extremely dull, loud bang suddenly exploded, echoing throughout the entire training ground.

In the next instant, the incredibly heavy punching bag swung high backward, reaching an angle nearly parallel to the ground before it began to decelerate under the spring's rebounding force, then swung back heavily with a whistling sound.

The entire base of the punching bag shook along with it, and the dust on the ground was kicked up slightly.

The smile on Yun Chuxiu's face froze completely.

His mouth fell wide open as he stared intently at the still-swaying heavy punching bag, then suddenly turned his head to look at Lin Chen, who was slowly withdrawing his fist.

Lin Chen lowered his fist, carefully feeling the feedback from that strike just now.

The surface of his fist felt slightly warm, but his bones and muscles didn't feel the slightest discomfort. The power transmission was smooth, and the burst was complete.

"Roughly equivalent to the full-strength blow of an ordinary Tier 2 pet beast?"

Lin Chen estimated in his mind: "Not bad, at least I have some self-defense capability when facing sudden danger."

"In the future, when encountering dangerous situations, I won't have to keep hiding behind them anymore."

He would even take action himself if necessary.

Having finished the test, Lin Chen didn't linger.

He turned around and walked toward the petrified Yun Chuxiu.

Seeing Lin Chen walking over, Yun Chuxiu subconsciously took half a step back, as if the person approaching was not his roommate but a humanoid beast that had just displayed terrifying strength.

The Flame-Forged Spirit Sword also vibrated slightly, blocking half a step in front of him with its tip pointed at Lin Chen, taking a defensive stance born out of instinct.

Seeing this, Lin Chen paused slightly. "I'm heading back first. There are classes tomorrow, so rest early."

Having said that, he said no more and turned to leave the training ground.

It wasn't until Lin Chen's figure had completely disappeared that Yun Chuxiu felt as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted, and he silently let out a breath.

At some point, a layer of fine cold sweat had actually broken out on his back.

Yun Chuxiu walked up to the heavy punching bag, reached out to feel the slightly dented fist imprint on its surface, and then tried to push the bag, feeling its heavy weight and recalling the loud bang that had just echoed. His throat bobbed.

He raised his head to look in the direction where Lin Chen had disappeared, murmuring in a low voice with a complex, hard-to-describe tone, "This guy is a real monster."