Beast Taming: Starting From Zero
Chapter 991: Zip-headed bird (two in one)
Master of Mimicry, a King-level Pet of the Normal-type, can instantly replicate an opponent’s appearance by scanning them with its eyes. It can also mimic targets it has previously encountered. Not only that, but it can also mimic an opponent’s moves, though these are mere illusions, lacking any power. However, Yu Zhenyi’s Master of Mimicry knows several skills of other attributes. It’s highly possible that when you think a skill is a mimicry, it’s actually real, so it’s best to defend against all skills.
Also, be aware that Master of Mimicry’s mimicry ability has reached A-level. It can mimic not only living beings but also inanimate objects like sand and stones, and even skills… Qiao Sang looked at the power of the Master of Mimicry’s ability and inexplicably recalled her experience of using a mimicry doll to impersonate herself for classes on Super Dormant Star, and a pang of bitterness surged in her heart.
What’s the use of a Pet relying solely on mimicry? If it could even simulate voices and communicate normally, that would be truly impressive.
At the King-level Pet tier, in a battle, even if the opponent uses a doppelganger, mimicking their doppelganger is useless. Even if the opponent doesn’t directly dispel the doppelganger, they can sense and immediately identify the opponent who is not their doppelganger.
However, the ability to mimic skills and simulate sand and stones is indeed something to be very careful about… Qiao Sang reined in her earlier emotions and continued to seriously read the information below.
…
Time passed, and the competition proceeded in an orderly fashion.
The quarter-final matches were divided into four groups. Whether played in the morning, afternoon, or evening, all four groups could finish their matches.
Qiao Sang was a participant in the third group.
She was scheduled for the afternoon.
To avoid being surrounded by people outside, she simply ate a meal backstage, introduced the situation of each of her opponent’s Pets to Steel Treasure and the others, and then returned to the participant area.
The sun was scorching at this time, and most of the audience had not yet arrived at the venue. However, as soon as she sat down in the participant area, the relatively few audience members in the stands erupted in enthusiastic cheers compared to before.
Qiao Sang politely smiled in the direction of the cheers.
Now that she was a B-level Beast Tamer, her five senses could no longer be judged by ordinary people. Even from a considerable distance to the stands, she still sharply spotted a certain direction.
This is… Qiao Sang’s eyes narrowed slightly.
She saw a boy in the stands holding a Little Song燕 and waving his arms towards her. Next to him was another man, as well as her opponent for this round, Yu Zhenyi.
Little Song燕 is not a particularly rare Pet; it’s normal to encounter a few on the road.
But this Little Song燕 was excitedly waving its glow stick on its wing towards her, clearly a fan, which immediately made her think of the Little Song燕 that came for an autograph yesterday.
Qiao Sang asked:
“Steel Treasure, is that the Little Song燕 that came to our room for an autograph yesterday?”
“Steel Sword…”
Steel Treasure looked in the direction of its Yu Beast Master’s gaze and barked, indicating that it couldn’t see clearly from such a distance.
“Ice Emperor.”
At this moment, Ice Emperor Ram, whose head had popped out of the backpack at some point, barked, indicating that it was probably the same one from yesterday.
Then there’s no mistake… Qiao Sang’s brow furrowed subconsciously.
Yu Zhenyi was also a quarter-finalist, and he was currently next to the Little Song燕’s Yu Beast Master, yet the opponent didn’t pay any special attention and even chatted occasionally, as if they already knew each other.
It seems Steel Treasure’s worries yesterday were correct…
…
At the same time.
In the stands.
The young man excitedly said:
“Brother, is Qiao Shen looking at me?!”
The man with a stylish low ponytail looked towards the participant area and said mercilessly:
“She just glanced at this area, she wasn’t specifically looking at you.”
The young man retorted:
“Who says so? Maybe Qiao Shen saw Brother Yu here and incidentally saw me.”
“Song Song.”
Little Song燕 nodded repeatedly.
Exactly, exactly.
The man wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, with a sports headband on his forehead, looking sunny and handsome, smiled and said:
“Why aren’t you this excited when you see me?”
The young man said:
“You two are different. She’s my idol.”
After speaking, he continued to cheer and wave his glow stick.
“Be careful in this match,” said the man with a stylish low ponytail.
“She looks to be in good spirits, so she must have received Healing.”
Yu Zhenyi said indifferently:
“Her Ice Emperor Ram has Healing Light. I wasn’t even expecting to cause her any impact, I just thought your brother is her fan, so I mentioned it in passing.”
The man with a stylish low ponytail was silent for a moment, then patted his shoulder and said:
“Just do your best in the match.”
Yu Zhenyi: “…”
Just from that one sentence, he knew that his brother also didn’t think he would win.
…
Time passed little by little.
Soon it was the official start time for the afternoon matches.
“It’s 1:30 PM now,” Tian Yiwan said with an enthusiastic tone from the commentary stand. “The first group of participants for the afternoon is about to enter!”
“One is a highly popular participant who is participating in the Regional Competition for the third time, and has achieved good results in every Regional Competition, known as the King of Mimicry, Yu Zhenyi!” Tang Xueran continued.
“The other is the youngest and strongest dark horse of this competition, a super popular participant who won the previous round with a 3:0 record, Qiao Sang!”
As the commentators finished speaking, two green bird-type Pets flew directly out from both sides of the arena.
The stands instantly erupted in a surging tide of cheers.
Almost all of them were shouting Qiao Sang’s name.
After these few rounds of competition and the confirmed news of her entering the Guo Yu Bureau, Qiao Sang was undoubtedly the most popular and fan-attracting figure in the Regional Competition.
Even Yuan Tianlong, who was publicly recognized as having the potential for the championship, was slightly inferior.
Yu Zhenyi listened to the surrounding cheers, a smile on his face, automatically blocking them out.
Qiao Sang waved to the surroundings.
The cheers immediately became even more surging.
A glowing image of “10” appeared on the field.
Qiao Sang lowered her hand, looked at her opponent in the distance, and showed a serious expression.
A mechanical voice changed with the light image:
“9, 8, 7… 3, 2, 1.”
The light image disappeared.
Both of them simultaneously formed hand seals.
Two dazzling crimson star arrays lit up.
Immediately after, two exceptionally massive figures appeared within the star arrays.
At the same time, the temperature on the field plummeted, and snowflakes drifted down.
“Participant Qiao Sang and Participant Yu Zhenyi have sent out Ice Emperor Ram and Zipu Head Bird respectively.” From the commentary stand, Tian Yiwan introduced the Pets sent out by both sides.
Zipu Head Bird, an Electric-type and Flying-type dual-attribute bird Pet, can emit blinding light to stun opponents, then take the opportunity to attack with lightning. The light it emits is exceptionally bright, capable of turning an area of several kilometers as bright as day even on a moonless night… Qiao Sang looked at the Pet in the distance, which was about ten meters tall, largely yellow with red eyes, yellow mask-like markings on its face, and two yellow spherical light emitters at the tips of its wings. Information related to it surfaced in her mind.
“Zipu!”
Zipu Head Bird flapped its wings, transforming into a yellow lightning bolt, and instantly reached several hundred meters into the sky, looking down.
Yellow electric arcs crackled around its body.
White snow fell, but before it could get close, it was completely annihilated by these yellow electric arcs.
This distance should be outside the range of Ice Emperor Ram’s Ice Heaven Domain… Qiao Sang looked up at the sky, estimated the distance between Zipu Head Bird and the ground, and subconsciously analyzed.
The opponent flying so high at the start and having Zipu Head Bird’s body sparkling with electric arcs clearly showed a defense against Ice Heaven Domain and Ice Flower Seal.
Could it be that the opponent planned to have Zipu Head Bird attack from such a distance for the entire match?
However, for a King-level Pet, this distance didn’t seem far.
To win, she still needed to get the opponent into the domain’s range… Qiao Sang thought of this and said:
“Domain, steps.”
Ice Emperor Ram couldn’t fly. There were two ways to get closer to the sky.
One was to summon rain and use its Melt Water ability to continuously merge with the rainwater and move upwards.
But this method carried a risk: the opponent was an Electric-type Pet, and using a large-scale Electric-type skill would actually help increase its Electric-type power, making Ice Emperor Ram vulnerable to being struck by lightning.
The second method was more stable.
Ice Emperor Ram stepped forward with its left front paw, and visible cold air emanated from its entire body.
Instantly, a solid layer of ice crust rapidly spread and condensed on the ground.
The entire field transformed into an Ice Heaven world.
“Lightning,” Yu Zhenyi issued the command.
Yellow electric arcs suddenly expanded around Zipu Head Bird’s body.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
Terrifying lightning bolts struck down from its body, aiming to hit Ice Emperor Ram’s location.
This scene made everyone react, and a clamor arose:
“Holy cow! The Ice Heaven Domain can’t freeze Zipu Head Bird’s position, no wonder it flew so high at the beginning!”
“It’s over! Ice Emperor Ram can’t attack Zipu Head Bird, but Zipu Head Bird can attack Ice Emperor Ram, so won’t it just be a sitting duck? Is Qiao Sang going to lose this match?”
“The lightning flashing on Zipu Head Bird’s body seems to render Ice Flower Seal ineffective too.”
“Did Ice Emperor Ram use Ice Flower Seal?”
“Not sure, but didn’t it like to use Ice Flower Seal mixed in during the snowfall phase in its previous two matches?”
“No! I bet all my savings on Qiao Sang!”
“Don’t be so disheartened, the match has just begun.”
On the field.
As the lightning struck down, Mega Ice Cones suddenly appeared diagonally downwards, forming a staircase in mid-air.
Ice Emperor Ram leaped, landing on the closest Ice Cone, and then used the Ice Cone it stepped on as a springboard to continuously leap upwards.
The lightning struck empty air.
Qiao Sang looked at the scene before her, her expression calm.
The second method was to instantly condense Mega Ice Cones as jumping points to continuously move upwards under the influence of the Ice Heaven Domain.
With the Ice Heaven Domain active, the size and direction of the Mega Ice Cones only required a single thought.
As long as the opponent entered the range of Ice Emperor Ram’s domain, it would definitely lose this match.
To actually use Mega Ice Cones to form steps and jump upwards… Yu Zhenyi quickly responded:
“Lightning Weather!”
“Zipu!” Zipu Head Bird shrieked, increasing its energy.
It flapped its wings forcefully.
The sky instantly darkened, becoming gloomy.
Dense clusters of thunderclouds eerily appeared high in the sky.
Astonishing electric arcs flashed within the thunderclouds, like restless lightning snakes, darting everywhere.
“Whoosh!!!”
Lightning struck down.
Countless yellow electric arcs snaked down from the thunderclouds, almost covering half the field.
The Mega Ice Cones suspended in mid-air shattered with a crash, and large chunks of broken ice fell downwards.
One of the lightning bolts struck directly at the leaping Ice Emperor Ram.
Just as it was about to hit, a thick, crystalline Ice Armor almost instantly condensed on Ice Emperor Ram’s body.
With a “bang,” the lightning struck Ice Emperor Ram’s body.
“Jump!” Qiao Sang shouted.
At this moment, the Mega Ice Cones high in the sky had already completely disappeared under the bombardment of the lightning.
Amidst the lightning, Ice Emperor Ram exerted force with its four limbs. As it exerted itself, an Ice Cone suddenly appeared beneath its feet, serving as a stepping stone.
It leaped upwards, and the Ice Cone beneath its feet shattered and fell under the lightning strike.
But Ice Emperor Ram leaped out of the lightning unharmed.
A crystalline Ice Armor covered its entire body, seemingly without any damage.
Qiao Sang’s expression showed no particular surprise.
During this time, except when on the training ground, Ice Emperor Ram almost always practiced Ice Armor in its backpack and room, having already perfected it.
With the enhancement of the Ice Heaven Domain, its defense was further strengthened, capable of withstanding most attacks. Unless it was a concentrated attack, strong but scattered attacks like this would find it difficult to directly break through the Ice Armor’s defense.
High in the sky.
Another Mega Ice Cone appeared beneath Ice Emperor Ram’s feet, serving as its landing spot.
Absolutely cannot let Ice Emperor Ram get close… Yu Zhenyi shouted:
“Move up, Lightning Flash!”
Zipu Head Bird flapped its wings, transforming into a lightning bolt and continuing to ascend, once again widening the distance from Ice Emperor Ram.
“Zipu!”
Immediately after, it shrieked.
A shocking yellow lightning bolt suddenly shot out from its body, tearing across the sky, and plummeted down from high above towards Ice Emperor Ram’s location, like a divine punishment from the heavens.
Qiao Sang suddenly remembered a previous match of Yu Zhenyi’s that she had watched, and immediately shouted: “Close your eyes, move!”
“Ice Emperor.”
Ice Emperor Ram, without thinking, trustingly closed its eyes and leaped upwards, leaving its original position.
At the same time, the two yellow spherical light emitters on Zipu Head Bird’s wings suddenly lit up with an exceptionally dazzling light, instantly illuminating the gloomy sky, making it impossible to tell that it was just lightning weather a second ago.
The light was blinding.
The people in the stands subconsciously closed their eyes or raised their hands to block them, feeling as if they were almost blinded in a physiological sense.
Qiao Sang also raised her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light.
As expected, it was a combination skill of Flash and Lightning Descent. While attacking, it emitted dazzling light to stun the opponent, preventing them from dodging or counterattacking in time, thereby increasing the skill’s hit rate.
With a loud “bang.”
Qiao Sang broke her train of thought and lowered her hand.
She saw that the terrifying lightning bolt had already struck the ground, blasting a huge pit in the arena.
High in the sky, Ice Emperor Ram leaped upwards, stepping on one Mega Ice Cone after another, which appeared almost instantly.
It still had its eyes closed, leaping and moving by feel.
This distance… Qiao Sang said:
“Ice.”
Ice Emperor Ram opened its eyes and looked at Zipu Head Bird in the sky.
The next second, Zipu Head Bird, maintaining its俯瞰 posture, froze into ice.