Senior Year, Class 6.
As soon as Qiao Sang entered the classroom and took her seat, a group of classmates gathered around her.
“How did the assessment go?”
“Was it for Central Hollow University on Blue Star?”
“Why didn’t you try Merta Academy?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just stay here for college?”
Ever since Qiao Sang secured first place for Sainan High School in the friendship competition, her classmates' enthusiasm for her had risen noticeably.
She was beginning to resemble the influential figure she once was at Shengshui High School.
Qiao Sang didn’t feel disturbed by the attention. Instead, she smiled and casually chatted with them.
The fact that Qiao Sang’s assessment took place in 25th District wasn’t a secret, Tang Yi had already mentioned it in the class group chat when asked.
Qiao Sang recalled the assessment instructor who had looked like a mummy and nodded.
Upon hearing this, the surrounding classmates grew restless.
“Looks like when we do our final outdoor practical class, I’ll have to ask my family to send a few strong beast tamers to accompany us.” Follow current novels on n̷o̷v̷e̷l̷f̷i̷r̷e̷.net
“If you always rely on protection, won’t you just become useless?”
“You can go alone if you want. I’ll definitely bring extra people. I heard the final outdoor practical class location has been confirmed, it’ll be in 27th District. That place is even more dangerous than 25th District.”
The lower ten zones were all dangerous, but generally speaking, the further back the districy number, the more perilous it was.
27th District…? Qiao Sang paused.
Wasn’t that where Gangbao came from?
At that moment, the class bell rang.
Qiao Sang quickly put the thought aside and focused on her studies.
During class, Tang Yi kept scrolling on his phone. When the lesson ended, he suddenly patted Qiao Sang on the shoulder.
She turned her head, and he handed his phone to her.
“There’s a pet obstacle course event this weekend. Want to go together?”
“A pet obstacle course event?” Qiao Sang asked in confusion.
“It’s one of those TV station activities where you complete challenges for prizes.” Tang Yi explained.
“Not interested.” Qiao Sang turned away.
One second later, she turned back.
“Wait, are you interested in this?”
Tang Yi scratched his head, embarrassed.
“It’s not really about the prize. I just want to see if I can strengthen my bond with Poison Water Lion through the challenges.”
Qiao Sang looked at him with confusion.
“An obstacle course can improve a bond with a pet?”
“Aren’t there examples of beasts evolving through bonds on Chaosu Star?” Tang Yi said.
“Even though bond-based evolution is rare here, people haven’t given up on it. That’s why they organize all sorts of activities to encourage forming strong bonds with pets.”
Qiao Sang raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“You probably don’t need an event .”
“I just want to give it a try.” Tang Yi scratched his head again.
“When in a new place, do as the locals do. And Poison Water Lion doesn’t have any known cases of bond evolution yet, I want to see if I can be the first.”
Qiao Sang was impressed.
“I didn’t expect you to have such ambition.”
Tang Yi chuckled and continued, “There have actually been cases where people from other planets have contracted Chaosu Star beasts and successfully triggered bond evolution.”
Then, as if he had just thought of something, he added, “Didn’t you also contract a Little Steel Falcon from Chaosu Star? Don’t you want to see if it can evolve through bonding?”
“Bond evolution isn’t that simple.” Qiao Sang was tempted but controlled her excitement with reason.
Based on the daily stat increase, Gangbao would likely evolve in about 20 days. Even if Little Steel Falcons had a path for bond evolution, forming a strong enough bond within such a short time was unrealistic, especially with a pet as intelligent as Gangbao.
That was the logical conclusion.
But when Qiao Sang saw Gangbao later, she couldn’t help but think about it again.
Bond evolution was rare on Chaosu Star because the planet had long developed a strained relationship between humans and beasts.
Even those who attempted to study bond evolution often failed due to impure motives.
As a result, only a handful of beasts had achieved bond evolution on Chaosu Star.
However, the lack of examples didn’t mean the planet’s beasts were incapable of evolving this way.
Like Tang Yi said, there were many cases where people from other planets had contracted Chaosu Star beasts and triggered bond evolution.
The most famous case was the international superstar from Blue Star, Pitti Knightley.
She had skyrocketed to fame after successfully evolving a Chaosu Star beast through bonding, a species that had never achieved bond evolution before.
In the dormitory, Gangbao was feeding Special Spicy Peppers to Chan Chan Stone when she suddenly felt her beast tamer’s gaze.
She instinctively looked back at her feathers.
Was she already losing too many feathers?
Just as Gangbao started feeling concerned, Qiao Sang spoke.
“What do you think of me as a person?”
Gangbao was momentarily stunned before responding simply, A good person.
Well, that settled it, no chance for bond evolution.
Being called a good person was just a general compliment, meaning she hadn’t left a deep impression. No defining memory had formed in Gangbao’s heart.
Qiao Sang quickly abandoned the thought again and returned to her studies.
Gangbao stopped what she was doing, deep in thought.
Her beast tamer was acting weird today…
Suddenly, Yabao bared his fangs at the window and growled.
Startled, Qiao Sang swiftly put down her pen and walked over to the window, scanning the outside with vigilance.
With Yabao’s enhanced hearing, if he said there was movement, then something must have been out there.
Even though this was a school, Chaosu Star was full of wild beasts. The top ten districts had stricter management, but that didn’t mean wild beasts weren’t dangerous.
“Maybe a wild beast just passed by.” Qiao Sang concluded when she saw nothing outside.
Yabao, reassured by his beast tamer’s confidence, relaxed and continued munching on his energy pill.
Outside the window, perched on the fourth-floor ledge, a small, black, rock-like beast wiped away the crystals forming on its forehead.
The fourth-floor lights went out.
Seeing this, the black beast stretched out its arms and carefully climbed toward the fifth floor.
Upon reaching the fifth floor, it noticed the lights were still on and immediately shivered, retreating back down.
But after a while, when it realized no one had noticed it, the black beast cautiously climbed up again.
This time, it mustered the courage to peek inside.
The scary beast inside was asleep.
The black beast let out a sigh of relief and then steeled its resolve.
As soon as that human fell asleep, it would execute its rescue plan!
It waited and waited…