Chapter 819: Coordinator (two in one)

Time passed bit by bit.

The auditorium gradually filled with people.

The lights in the entire venue suddenly extinguished, and then, a beam of light shone on the stage.

Hundreds of blue butterflies gathered from all directions towards the light beam, slowly forming the silhouette of a person.

After about three seconds, the butterflies suddenly turned into specks of light and dissipated, and a female Host, wearing a blue long dress, with long golden curly hair reaching her waist, and exquisite makeup, appeared in the light beam holding a microphone.

Qiao Sang asked with interest, “What kind of skill is this?”

“It’s a Fairy-type skill, Mimicry. It can condense energy to mimic anything one wants to mimic,” Lamal revealed. “There’s a lift under the stage. When the mimicked butterflies gather, the lift rises, and then the mimicry dissipates, creating this scene.”

So that’s how it is… Qiao Sang suddenly understood, indicating she had learned something new.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Coordination Competition!” The female Host said with a passionate voice, “The celebration of Pets and Pet Coordinators, the long-awaited Coordination Competition, is about to begin!”

As the Host’s words fell, the entire venue erupted in thunderous cheers.

One by one, Pets about ten centimeters in size, with two pairs of translucent wings, light blue hair, slender arms connected to oval-shaped hands forming a quarter note shape, flew down from the dome, spinning and dancing gracefully.

Accompanying their dance, sparkling powder scattered down.

This opening is too beautiful… Qiao Sang felt her mood visibly improve.

Worries about Aodinihi not being able to play the flute before she left Super Dormant Star, or her unlimited credit card expiring, seemed to vanish instantly.

Lamal’s lips curved into a smile, her tone clearly brighter: “These are Joyful Butterflies. The scattered powder has the effect of making people feel happy. The Coordination Competition hopes the audience can watch the competition in a good mood, so the opening usually features Joyful Butterflies performing and scattering their powder.”

Qiao Sang smiled, “No wonder I feel so much better.”

“Xiao Xunbao~”

Xiao Xunbao, who had been angry enough to turn invisible, reappeared, happily watching the Joyful Butterflies dancing above.

The audience members one by one started smiling, and some of them reached out their hands, and the Joyful Butterflies gracefully landed on them.

“This time, betting on the honor of Pet Coordinators, a total of 220 people have gathered at the Coordination Arena. The winner who reaches the top will receive a ribbon trophy crafted from extraterrestrial crystal, whose value is immeasurable! And a purebred Dream Beast Pet egg!” The Host announced loudly:

“Now, let me introduce our judges: Ms. Angelica Windsor, President of the First District Coordination Center!”

“Ms. Sri Hayek, Dean of the Royal Union Dun Coordination Academy!”

“Top-level Pet Coordination Master…”

“With 220 participants, it definitely won’t finish in one day, right?” Qiao Sang leaned in and asked.

“Of course, the competition lasts five days. It will probably take two days just to finish the first stage of the appearance show,” Lamal said.

Qiao Sang was silent for a moment: “You’re not going to make me come here for five consecutive days, are you?”

“How could I?” Lamal laughed, “I know you’re busy with your freshman courses. Even if you wanted to watch, it would probably be hard to ask for leave, especially since you’re not from our Coordination Academy.”

Qiao Sang: “…”

While the two were talking, the Host had finished her introductions.

“Show us your Pet! Please welcome our first contestant, Polly Braga!”

“Ya!”

Ya Bao realized the competition was about to begin and showed an excited expression.

“Xun!”

Xiao Xunbao cheered, waving its paws.

“Ice Ai.”

Lu Bao jumped out of the backpack, passed over Qiao Sang’s head, and leaped to Ya Bao’s side to sit down.

Steel Treasure stood on its Yu Beast Master’s shoulder.

Qiao Sang was now a C-level Beastmaster, having received multiple feedbacks, so she didn’t feel much weight on her shoulder.

Soon, soft background music began.

The curtain slowly opened.

One person and one beast rotated in sync, arriving at the center of the stage with graceful dance steps.

Qiao Sang clearly saw it was a Pet with a body like a kangaroo, primarily green and white, and a mushroom on its head forming a straw hat shape.

Information about this Pet immediately appeared in her mind: Doudougu, a High-level Pet with dual Grass-type and Fighting-type attributes.

Doudougu was wearing a miniature shrinking bracelet on its paw, and its current size was a head shorter than its Yu Beast Master.

One person and one beast spun and leaped in sync, then their paws and hands touched, gripping together tightly.

The background music became more intense.

At the same time, the dancing style of the person and the Pet suddenly changed from a swan dance to Latin.

“Xiao Xunbao…”

Xiao Xunbao’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, filled with longing.

Suddenly, Doudougu’s paw exerted upward force, throwing its Yu Beast Master towards the dim ceiling.

Immediately after, a green vine suddenly extended from its paw upwards, binding its Yu Beast Master’s legs and feet, and then swinging rhythmically.

It was also tapping its feet, as if dancing.

The contestant named Polly danced gracefully in mid-air no matter how the vine swung, as if the vine didn’t exist and she could naturally move in the air.

After dancing passionately like this for more than ten seconds, Doudougu’s paw went upwards, the vine swung in a large arc, and then retracted, disappearing.

Everyone gasped.

The imagined performance accident did not happen. Polly performed a perfect backflip in mid-air.

Just as she was about to land, dozens of vines emerged from the ground out of nowhere, forming the shape of a flower, blooming at Polly’s landing spot.

She landed steadily on it, hands raised, striking a pose.

The entire venue cheered.

The five judges had varied expressions.

Lamal clapped a few times symbolically and asked, “What do you think of this performance?”

Qiao Sang clapped and said, “The performance was quite good, but I felt like the person overshadowed the Pet a bit later on. The first stage of the competition should be the Pet’s main show.”

“Even you noticed that. It seems this contestant’s score won’t be too high,” Lamal said.

Qiao Sang: “???”

Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean, ’even you noticed that'?

Lamal commented, “This Doudougu was clearly trained quite well, and the opponent has also won five Coordination Competitions to get here, so their strength is definitely not bad. They probably participated in the Coordination Competition for the first time and wanted to showcase themselves better, overdoing it a bit.”

Soon, the five judges gave their scores.

The first stage had a maximum score of 50.

Each judge gave 10 points, for a total of 37 points.

This was the first contestant, and Qiao Sang was watching a Coordination Competition with five judges live for the first time, so she wasn’t sure if this score was high or not.

However, half an hour later, she knew the score was not high.

Because the subsequent contestants all scored above 40 points.

Ice Mole Rats that hatched from ice balls.

Scale-footed warriors that created a hundred clones, leaped into the air, and used a chain kick to eliminate all clones at once.

Flower Roaring Kings that sang songs and made the stage bloom with flowers.

Rainbow Jian Ous that placed themselves inside a tornado, then violently broke out, with a rainbow appearing behind them as a background.

Every one of them was dazzling.

“How about it, isn’t watching a Coordination Competition live better than on TV?” Lamal asked.

“Indeed.” Qiao Sang nodded.

It had to be said, watching a Coordination Competition was indeed a visual feast.

“Then are you interested in developing a career in the coordination world?” Lamal didn’t forget her task and asked.

Interest aside, she definitely didn’t have the time, but if Steel Treasure wanted to compete, she could find a coordination-type competition that was about to be held and participate… Qiao Sang didn’t answer, but instead asked:

“I see that the Pet levels of the Pet Coordinators participating in the Coordination Competition vary greatly. Some have General-level Pets or even King-level Pets, but some send out Intermediate-level Pets to compete. Does the Coordination Competition have no requirements for Pet levels?”

Lamal looked over, her expression strange: “It seems you don’t understand Coordination Competitions at all.”

Qiao Sang humbly asked for guidance: “Please enlighten me.”

“Coordination Competitions are not like your Professional Beast Tamers, where you participate in corresponding events based on the level on your pet tamer badge,” Lamal explained:

“As long as you become a Yu Beast Master, you can go to the Coordination Center in the early stages to be examined by professional Trainers and Pet Coordinators. As long as the fur condition and other aspects pass, and you perform a skill you’re good at, you can become an F-level Pet Coordinator, the lowest level.”

“Pet Coordinators of this level can generally pass as long as their Pets are well-trained.”

“However, you then need to continuously participate in Coordination Competitions and win honors to become a higher-level Pet Coordinator.”

“To become an E-level Pet Coordinator, there are no requirements for the Pet’s level, but you need to win three top-three placements or one championship in coordination-type events. The Coordination Center officially records all coordination-type competitions, so you can directly register then.”

She paused, then added: “If the competition level is high, winning one top-three or even top-ten placement can qualify you to apply to be an E-level Pet Coordinator.”

Qiao Sang tried to understand:

“Meaning, to participate in a county-level Coordination Competition, you need to win three top-three placements or one championship. To participate in a city-level Coordination Competition, you only need one top-three placement. And for a provincial-level Coordination Competition, a top-ten placement is enough.”

Lamal was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

Super Dormant Star didn’t have counties, cities, or provinces, so she didn’t react immediately.

As a student of Royal Union Dun, there were specialized courses for learning about other planets. After Lamal processed the meaning, she nodded:

“That’s right.”

She continued:

“So, to participate in a competition of the Coordination Competition’s level, we don’t look at the Yu Beast Master’s level, nor the Pet Coordinator’s level, but whether the opponent has previously won five coordination-type competition championships.”

“As long as you’ve won five coordination-type competition championships, you can sign up.”

“For a Pet Coordinator, the honors obtained are the most important.”

“Honors can raise a Pet Coordinator’s level and allow them to access higher-level competitions.”

Qiao Sang thought for a moment and said, “But if a Pet Coordinator’s Pet has a High Level, they can get more honors, right? No matter what, Coordination Competitions ultimately come down to battle.”

“That’s a given,” Lamal laughed. “A Pet’s strength is also part of its charm. The higher the strength, the more spectacular the initial display and the final battle can be, capturing the audience’s attention and igniting their emotions.”

“But Coordination Competitions are divided into two stages. The initial display stage emphasizes the Pet’s charm more. A low-level Pet doesn’t mean it has low charm. Generally, in the performance display part and the dazzling battle part of a Coordination Competition, Pet Coordinators will send out different Pets.”

“Sometimes, higher-level Pet Coordinators even prefer to send out lower-level Pets for the performance display part, because if they can still advance smoothly, it further showcases their strength.”

“So there are so many intricacies to Coordination Competitions.” Qiao Sang felt she had gained a lot of new knowledge.

“Actually, if you really want to talk about it, there’s another reason,” Lamal suddenly thought of something and said.

“What is it?” Qiao Sang cooperatively asked.

Lamal replied:

“A Pet Coordinator can’t use one display method forever. When a Pet Coordinator reaches a certain level of fame, their signature display method will become well-known. If they use the same performance display in a large Coordination Competition, they’ll easily be accused of resting on their laurels, lacking freshness, and their score won’t be too high. So, Pet Coordinators often train new Pets to perform different displays.”

Qiao Sang thought about it and said:

“Do they have to train new Pets? Wouldn’t it be enough to just teach the existing Pets different performance styles?”

Lamal looked over:

“To become an excellent Pet Coordinator, every Pet must be trained to a level where they can perform a dazzling display.”

That’s true… Qiao Sang nodded in agreement.

The competition was still proceeding in an orderly manner.

“Let’s welcome our last contestant for this morning, Sheng Jiao!” The Host announced loudly.

As soon as her voice fell, all the lights in the main hall went out.

A brilliant golden light suddenly shot out, flying into the sky above the audience, reflecting back and forth, without any pattern.

Its speed was so fast that it left traces of golden light wherever it went, like stars connected in the night sky.

Then, the golden light shot onto the stage.

“Bong!” A magnetic female voice then sounded.

Immediately after, all the remaining golden traces exploded, turning into falling golden light, like tiny stars descending, illuminating the entire auditorium beautifully.

The lights came on.

Everyone saw a black-haired lady on the stage with slightly bent legs, holding the sides of her black skirt, and slightly bowing her head, as well as a black Pet with similarly bent legs, paws curled to the sides, and also bowing its head.

The auditorium was silent.

A few seconds later, cheers erupted, and the entire venue boiled over.

“Xiao Xunbao…”

Xiao Xunbao looked at the black Pet, showing an expression of longing for the nth time.

“Ya!”

Ya Bao clapped excitedly.

“Ice Ai.”

Lu Bao flicked its tail, looking at the black Pet on stage with eyes full of admiration.

“Steel Slash.”

Steel Treasure looked at the reactions of the people around it, lost in thought.

“Clap, clap, clap…”

Qiao Sang clapped with utmost sincerity.

Honestly, this was definitely the most impressive performance among all the displays this morning. (End of Chapter)