Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

Once the Blazing Roc had completed the gene fusion, Zachary left the system. He headed towards the coliseum so he could participate in the competition. He was determined to enter the top three and win the opportunity to enter the Beast Tamer Space. This would allow him to cultivate the Thunder Dragon Horse and the cub as soon as possible.

He entered the coliseum. It was as full as it had been yesterday, crowded with the lively disciples of Crane College. They seemed to be quite keen on fighting beasts.

Right then, there were several fights taking place in the three arenas in the center of the coliseum.

Zachary pushed his way through the crowd, heading towards the registration area so he could sign up. When he had completed the registration process, he was given a number plate. He looked around until he spotted an empty seat and went to sit down.

About an hour later, Linda appeared.

"Have you signed up?" Linda asked, squeezing in beside him.

Zachary nodded.

Linda grinned at him. "When I got here just now, I checked your points. Yesterday, the Blazing Roc performed quite well and won a lot of consecutive rounds, so you have broken into the top 200. You did that in a single day! In fact, your point total has already exceeded the points of most of the King Level disciples of Crane College in this month. That's pretty amazing for a newcomer," she said. Her words of praise pleased Zachary.

"Really? So I'm allowed to show some pride in that accomplishment?" Zachary teased.

Linda rolled her eyes. "Don't get too excited. So far the competition in the coliseum has been random, but once you get into the top 100, you'll only fight against other top 100 treasure beasts. That rule ensures a level playing field. But virtually everyone in the top 100 is either a top King Level disciple or an Imperial Level warrior of Crane College. It matters less whether their treasure beasts are common, scarce, or rare; the most important thing is that they're all incredibly powerful. Your treasure beast will be entered in a round robin competition and find itself facing one fierce battle after another. Most beasts in the top 100 get exhausted after just a few rounds, win or lose." Her sober description of the upcoming challenge was like a splash of cold water.

"I understand." In fact, although Zachary appreciated Linda's warning, he wasn't too worried about getting into the top 100. His Blazing Roc had already broken through to the Imperial Level, and had become one of the best common beasts in the competition. Moreover, he had the Demonic Emperor Beast. He thought it wouldn't be too hard f

ter defeating the Scale-tailed Scorpion, the Blazing Roc fought all the way up the ladder, advancing more quickly than anyone could have predicted. It won five rounds in a row, and its ranking rose with every consecutive victory. It was now only a step away from top 100 on the ranking list.

Everyone watched the rise of the Blazing Roc, first with admiration, then with feelings of uneasiness and reserve. They felt instinctively that there was something unusual about the power of the Blazing Roc. It had not ranked high on the list of common group, so its performance now was far beyond what could be expected. Indeed, the higher the point total of the treasure beast, the more powerful its opponents would be, yet the Blazing Roc was winning each of its battles with ease. The five consecutive matches it had won today were even more impressive than its string of dozen victories yesterday, for today its opponents were stronger than ever—they were all at the peak of the King Level, or almost on par with it. When treasure beasts were evenly matched, factors besides strength level became decisive factors. It was extremely impressive that the Blazing Roc was still standing strong after fighting fierce opponents continuously.

"Did you feed the Blazing Roc something?" Linda demanded, looking suspiciously at Zachary. She couldn't help but wonder at the improved abilities of the Blazing Roc. What had he done to it? Could he have given it some treasures that would temporarily raise its power level?

"No," Zachary said simply, shaking his head.

"You're lying. The Blazing Roc's speed, strength, and other abilities have all increased massively since yesterday. This is definitely not a normal rate of improvement," Linda said firmly.