Chapter 371: Chapter 367: Dark Schemes! There Must Be Dark Schemes!

Seeing that Bai Qi had accepted his challenge, Zhou Yan no longer pursued the matter. He turned to Bai Qiucha, saying, “Cha, have you been neglecting your training recently? I heard from the instructor that you seem to only be studying at school.”

Bai Qiucha nodded, saying, “Well, because I’m primarily a student, what else should I be doing if not studying at the school?”

“Well, um… what you said makes me feel somewhat embarrassed.”

Hearing Bai Qiucha’s words, Bai Qi awkwardly scratched his head.

As a student at Star Mechanics Academy, ever since he became a Beast Master, it seemed that he had hardly attended classes. This included his most recent return to school, where he appeared to have spent more time running around than studying.

“Shouldn’t we consider Bai Qi as something other than a regular student? After all, it’s the first time I’ve heard of someone serving as both a teacher and a student simultaneously.”

Xiao Yuan chuckled, “Lately, you’ve been quite the hot topic in the Federation. With your Spirit-Control Orb, your Rune Tier 2 evolution, your armament evolution… even the revival of the ancient species hasn’t managed to overshadow you.”

Bai Qi let out a reluctant sigh, “It’s just a bit of good luck, there’s no need to exaggerate.”

“By the way, speaking of the ancient species, who here has managed to contract with one? I heard that the Jiuli Group has already started offering contracts.”

Mentioning the ancient species shifted everyone’s attention. Everyone burst into questions.

“I managed to contract one. It’s a king-level fossilized Thorn Dragon,” Li Mu raised his right hand and said.

“Li Mu? Since when did you make a contract? Why didn’t you tell me? I wanted one too, waaa…”

Zhou Yan looked entirely shocked. He grabbed the collar of Li Mu’s clothes, asking.

“Yesterday. Zhou Yan, you’ve already contracted your fifth beast, haven’t you?”

Li Mu replied in a lukewarm manner, then unconsciously turned his gaze towards Bai Qi.

He wondered if his King-level ancient species could stand a chance against Bai Qi.

“Ugh, I blame the Jiuli Group. Announcing the revival of the ancient species after I’d already made my contracts, how irritating.”

Zhou Yan clenched his fist in vexation, while Lu Qing pushed up his glasses, saying, “The majority of the ancient species that have been announced so far are at king-level; none of them are low tier. However, the evolution method of the ancient species is still unclear. Contracting one is risky and there’s no need to be so regretful.”

Upon hearing Lu Qing’s words, Zhou Yan felt somewhat relieved.

“Bai Qi, after this meeting is over, could I have a match with you?”

Gu Shan looked at the Rune Mark on Bai Qi’s hand and, after some hesitation, challenged Bai Qi.

“Another challenge?”

Bai Qi scratched his head. Gu Shan was just like Zhou Yan, is it because he spent too much time in the Tower of Competition?

Without some rankings or points at stake, it was kind of pointless.

“Yes, I want to see the difference between us.”

Gu Shan nodded.

To catch up to Bai Qi, his training for the last three months had been extra diligent, eventually elevating him to the Four Stage Beast Master. Even though he was still one step behind Bai Qi, he had to try.

“In that case, I’d like to challenge you too.”

Hearing this, Li Mu also challenged Bai Qi. It seemed like he’d been hesitating about this for a while.

“You guys…really…”

Seeing the determined look of the two, Bai Yuxiao couldn’t help but smack his lips.

Challenging this freak, not to mention he was only up to Four Stage now, even if he was at the same stage as Bai Qi, he would not challenge him.

After being beaten so brutally last time, he wasn’t interested in a rematch.

“Alright, all the instructors should be here by now. Let’s go to the assembly hall and wait. We can catch up after the summary meeting, as we won’t have many opportunities to gather like this soon,” Xiao Yuan suggested.

Upon hearing this, Gu Shan and the others stopped pressing Bai Qi, who finally sighed in relief.

“Thank you.”

Bai Qi gratefully glanced at Xiao Yuan, whereupon a wicked grin appeared on Xiao Yuan’s face, “However, remember to include me in the challenges after the meeting.”

It seemed like all these people were here for revenge…

Bai Qi covered his face with a sigh, feeling somewhat harassed.

He had intended to find Nicholas as soon as the meeting was over to ask about the Green Dragon’s Scales, but considering things, it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to leave.

“Are you brats going to get over here and assemble, or what!”

Jst then, Instructor Leng’s roaring echoed from the assembly hall. Zhou Yan, who’d been planning to warn Bai Qi about getting there first no matter what, suddenly shivered and instinctively ran towards the assembly hall.

Seeing this, Bai Qi felt as if he’d been relieved of a heavy burden. He quickened his steps towards the assembly hall, fearing that the others would cause further trouble.

Their aggressive behavior was too much. One of these days, he should get Beta to discuss Buddhism with them.

One by one, they entered the assembly hall where all the instructors, including Instructor Leng, Zhang Shan, and Luo Xiang, were present.

However, the main focus of the students were the Six Tower Masters, who had only appeared when the actual training began.

Today was their last chance to join the Six Towers.

Soon, all the training students from across the Federation arrived. Instructor Leng then stood up, her gaze sweeping over the gathered students.

“First of all, congratulations to you all for successfully completing the third stage of training. I believe you all have gained a great deal.”

As soon as Leng Feifei said this, the students below all nodded in agreement.

Although the third stage didn’t provide them with specific theories or practical teaching like the previous two stages, the place assigned to them to study was chosen based on their own abilities and characteristics. It was the best place for them to develop, so they actually gained quite a lot.

Except for any surprises, they were all going to choose their future development direction based on the training of this third stage.

Looking at everyone’s reactions, Leng Feifei nodded in satisfaction, continuing, “Starting today, you will officially enter society as graduates of our Beast Master Association’s group training program. So, little guys, remember to show your best.”

“However, before that, I need to announce the top ten outstanding students of this sponsorship training.”

As she spoke, Leng Feifei pressed a button and a huge screen descended from above. The screen displayed a blank leaderboard. Apart from the rankings from 1 to 10, list column was completely empty.

But soon, a name appeared in the tenth place.

“Li Xiao? Does he only get tenth place?”

Like Xiao Yuan and others, Li Xiao was already a Four Stage Beast Master when he joined the training. Although he wasn’t as dazzling as Bai Qi and others, his overall performance was pretty good. It was unexpected that he only got tenth place.

“It’s over, it’s over. If even Li Xiao only got tenth place, I won’t get a rank. I’ll get beaten up when I go back.”

Seeing this, Bai Yuxiao couldn’t help but look grim. Bai Tongchen had given him a task, not only to graduate successfully but also to make it into the top ten.

Then, the names of the ninth and the eight places also appeared in succession. They were Ran Xu and Qiao Li, who used to be Three-stage Beast Masters.

“No need to panic, Yuxiao. You might be ranked higher than them.”

Zhou Yan reassured him after seeing this, but Bai Yuxiao ignored him. After seeing the name of the seventh-place on the screen, his initial despair was immediately replaced by boundless excitement.

“Oh, my God! I’m actually in seventh place!”

“All students below, stay quiet!”

Bai Yuxiao couldn’t control his voice, and all the students turned their heads to look at him. Sitting at the top, Bai Tongchen immediately criticized him, but he couldn’t help but smile.

“Tongchen, don’t be so harsh on your child. Yuxiao is not one who can be tied down too much.”

Zhao Futu saw this and couldn’t help but smile and advise him.

“Chairman, it’s not that you don’t know this kid. He acts like a monkey most of the time. If I didn’t discipline him, who knows where he would be right now.”

Bai Tongchen waved his hand and said, “Only seventh place, looks like I’ll have to increase his training.”

Zhao Futu laughed and continued to watch the screen.

“Sixth place, Gu Shan.”

Seeing the name appearing on the screen again, the hall instantly became noisy. But the students who stayed at headquarters were not surprised at all.

They all had seen Gu Shan’s effort after joining the Tower of Competition. As Gu Shan’s level increased, his dual talent — Beast Control Space Enhancement and Elemental Resonance — also started to show its fangs.

Even without considering these, as one of only two Second Stage Beast Masters who participated in training, Gu Shan’s progress could not be considered slow.

“Wow… as expected, the progress of a dual talent user is definitely not slow when someone guides them.”

Bai Qi nodded slightly at the sight. With Gu Shan’s dual talent combination, as his level gradually increased, his advantage would get bigger and bigger.

After all, neither the number of beasts nor the terrifying attack power brought by Elemental Resonance could be compared by the average Beast Master.

Bai Qi suddenly felt a little sympathy for him. With so many beasts required, the resources Gu Shan had to consume were quite substantial.

Bai Qi smacked his lips and continued to look at the list in front of him.

“Fifth place, Li Mu.”

“Fourth place, Lu Qing.”

“Third place, Xiao Yuan.”

“Second place, Bai Qiucha.”

“First place…”

Leng Feifei paused for a moment, looked at Bai Qi, and continued, “Bai Qi!”

“How is that possible, I didn’t even make the list! It’s definitely corrupt!”

Seeing the list announced by Leng Feifei, Zhou Yan had a look of disbelief on his face. He didn’t notice the terrifying look Instructor Leng had on the podium.

“It’s normal. To get into the top ten, you need to at least pass the theoretical course. As far as I know, you failed several courses.”

Lu Qing adjusted her glasses and said, “Also, this list seems to have been arranged by Instructor Leng.”

“It was arranged by the teacher?”

Zhou Yan suddenly jolted up, feeling the terrifying killing intent coming from the side, he swallowed hard.

It felt like he was certain to die…

“The assessment of this list is not purely based on the level, your growth and daily performance are all reflected in it. If you have any objections, you can consult me afterwards.”

Leng Feifei withdrew her gaze, turned to look at Zhao Futu, who only then slowly stood up and walked to the podium, saying, “Actually, you shouldn’t be so hung up on this list. To evaluate a Beast Master, we need to look at his final achievements. I believe that everyone here will certainly grow to become the backbone of the association, and even the Federation in the future.”

Hearing Zhao Futu’s words, the students who didn’t make it to the list felt much better.

After all, being able to participate and complete the training showed that they were among the best of the best. As for people like Bai Qi, they were just freaks, not worth comparing themselves to.

On the other hand, even Zhou Yan didn’t make it to the list, so it was normal for them not to be listed.