Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-279

Su Ping didn’t try to comfort Su Lingyue although she was clearly stressed out. If she couldn’t handle this level of pressure, how could she undertake some responsibilities by herself in the future?

On the other hand, Luo Fengtian and the rest of Fei Yanbo’s students seemed to have learned about the test of the first round. They remained calm without batting an eye as if they were sure that they could pass this first hurdle.

Soon, the hosts finished explaining all the rules, and the initial match commenced.

Bzzz!

People heard something buzzing above the stage.

Everyone raised their heads, only to see a thick, dark cloud approaching. When the cloud was clear enough, people recognized that it was a colony of Phantom Bees.

All of the Phantom Bees were at the mature stage, and each bee was about one meter long. Their wings were transparent and flipped at a high frequency. The Phantom Bees could use Wind Blade, an inborn skill.

The people who were chatting along quieted down in an instant, as they all stared at this cloud in utter astonishment.

The Phantom Bees flew past the hosts’ airboat without attacking and stopped outside the shield covering the stage. Several people standing by the stage adjusted some settings of the shield. The half-transparent, blue shield disappeared, letting Phantom Bees fly in.

When all the bees were within the bounds of the stage, the shield was reactivated to keep them all inside.

The three hundred fifth-rank Phantom Bees hovered above the stage like a mass of dark clouds. Many participants were getting chills and goosebumps.

The surround-sound effect of all the buzzing was enough to make people shudder with fear.

“Is this the primary match? This is horrifying!”

“They are the Phantom Bees, three hundred of them. I cannot believe this!”

“People can die in this, right?”

Many participants had turned pale and gotten cold feet.

Same as the others, the colony of fifth-rank beasts filled Su Lingyue with dread. Not even an advanced battle pet warrior could have survived in a siege of this colony of beasts, not to mention the fact that she was merely at the fourth rank.

At the same time, the thought that she would not be alone on the stage did set her mind at ease, at least for a bit. She had encountered many formidable beasts when she visited the barren area. As such, she could bear the harsh environments better than many students who had yet to leave the base city at least once.

“Hey, why can those Phantom Bees fly over so orderly? Are they being manipulated? Who can control this large colony of Phantom Bees?” Su Lingyue asked Su Ping.

Su Ping rolled his eyes at her. “Who are you calling ‘hey’ now?”

Su Lingyue had never expected that Su Ping’s focus was on how she called him. She pouted, though she did chuckle to herself. Nevertheless, on her face, she still wore that casual look as she snorted, implying that there was nothing wrong with her calling him “Hey” when he referred to her as “this squirt.”

That was to call it even!

Her words reached Fei Yanbos’ ears. He turned around, smiled at her, and was about to answer her question when he heard Su Ping saying, “You need to know your place, or I will make you. See the chubbier one in the middle? That is the leader of those Phantom Bees, and it is tamed. Someone is manipulating this colony by controlling the leader.”

“Leader?”

This came as a surprise to Su Lingyue. However, that colony of Phantom Bees made her dizzy, and she couldn’t tell which one was the leader at all.

Still, since Su Ping had said so, then it was probably true. That was the only working explanation for how the three hundred Phantom Bees were under control. Otherwise, not even a titled battle pet warrior could have signed a contract with three hundred beasts. It would break people’s minds.

The words stayed on the tip of Fei Yanbo’s tongue since Su Ping had responded before he could. Fei Yanbo showed a polite smile. No wonder Su Ping was a titled battle pet warrior. He could pick out the leader in that crowd of Phantom Bees. His super sight was shocking enough.

As the colony of Phantom Bees entered the stage, the tension increased. The hosts had begun to randomly select the first one thousand participants, and their names were going to show up on the giant screens by the stage entrance.

Many people were as pale as ashes. They felt this wasn’t a test for them. That was to choose one thousand “lucky” people to risk their lives!

When the participants registered their names at the entrance, they were all assigned a number. Soon, countless numbers began to roll on the screen. Now and then, one or two numbers would stand out, and the judge would read it and ask the corresponding participants to get onto the stage.

Soon, one thousand participants were picked out.

They went down one after another from the eight staging zones and waited outside by the stage.

A square-shaped entrance opened up in the shield. The advanced battle pet warriors that were guarding by the edge of the shield instructed the participants to get inside. This huge crowd had filled up half of the area.

Standing on the stage were one thousand people and flying above them were the three hundred Phantom Bees.

The shield’s entrance was closed. The hosts standing on the airboat sounded emotionally wrought up. The huge loudspeakers placed across the venue spread their words to every corner, “The qualification trials, ready, go!!”

Bzzz!

Bzzz!

It seemed that the Phantom Bees hovering in the sky received some order because, after a short pause, they all dove down and hurled out the many poisonous stings that poured down like heavy rain.

The participants standing on the ground were going to face the first round of assault.

Most participants had summoned their pets as soon as they stepped onto the stage. Pets of the stone family had set up earth shields; those of the fire family began to breathe fire, and those of the fire family had built up a scorching wall to protect their masters.

Of all the battle pets summoned, most were pets of the Element family.

The Element family was a big one that included a huge variety of pets. At the moment, all sorts of skills were unleashed, “contending in beauty and fascination.” Gorgeous rays of light generated by those skills shone brightly on the stage. After the first wave of attacks by those poisonous stings, two to three hundred people had collapsed on the ground, paralyzed and unable to fight.

Apart from the strong paralyzing effect, the poisonous stings had potent penetrating power as well. Those with low-levels of defense could not have fended off the stings. Participants who had fallen victim to the poisonous stings had to receive timely treatment, or else they would suffer from the aftereffect when too much poison stayed within their bodies. Half of their bodies could end up paralized for the rest of their lives. But after the test, when the participants were carried off the stage, they would be given specially-designed antidotes.

Roar!

All of a sudden, some roars broke out from the crowd. Someone had summoned an eighth-rank Earthen Dragon. It wasn’t a pure-blood dragon but it did have some dragon bloodline.

The roar scared away a large number of Phantom Bees surrounding them, and they changed directions to other targets.

The Phantom Bees had mixed themselves in the crowd. They were striking the participants with Wind Blades and poisonous stings. Some unlucky battle pet warriors of the third rank were being besieged by several Phantom Bees and almost lost their lives within an instant.

Su Ping could tell that those were artificially bred Phantom Bees, instead of wild ones. They were less violent. Otherwise, the stage would have been full of dead bodies since over half of the participants were low-rank battle pet warriors.

Soon enough, the first group of participants finished the test. The Phantom Bees were lenient. Even so, after the test, merely dozens could remain standing on the stage.

Of those people, some did manage to hang on till the end by relying on their pets. However, they were unable to actively attack the Phantom Bees to snatch the pass.

Some had grabbed several passes, and there were no Phantom Bees that dared to move close to those people. Dead bodies of Phantom Bees surrounded them, proof enough about who were the most capable participants.