"Huh? There's actually a Chaos Giant Ape with three heads and six arms, a divine beast over level 90? It crushed a hundred-story building with a single swipe?!"
At first, Kent was astonished. Then, as he continued reading, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer wonder of it all.
However, soon his expression grew serious. These monsters were terrifying, and their strength was beyond imagination. Eventually, a sense of despair settled in his heart. These monsters were not only immensely powerful, but they had also developed intelligence, making them akin to gods of destruction.
The more he read, the more unsettled he became. Kent had previously thought that with his Divine Pet Evolution System, he was invincible, but now he realized that such confidence was misplaced. The overwhelming power of these creatures filled him with an intense sense of impending doom for humanity.
He understood that these monsters were growing stronger at an alarming rate. Even if humanity had Beastmasters capable of keeping them at bay, there would inevitably come a time when these creatures would mutate again or enter a rampaging state, triggering an endless monster tide that humans would struggle to resist.
Thankfully, the situation on Earthstar was not too different from that of Earth before the cataclysm. Nuclear weapons, missiles, hydrogen bombs, and other weapons had already been developed. These weapons gave humanity a brief respite, as several launches had managed to momentarily deter the monsters, making them cautious.
Currently, thirty-six Star Cities stood tall across Earthstar, each a behemoth city akin to a massive insect nest, bustling with life and energy.
These Star Cities were actively training Beastmasters who could tame monsters, and they were continuously clearing nearby areas of beast invasions. The materials gathered from these monsters were sent to high-level scientific research institutions, where new technologies were being developed, which helped to temporarily stabilize the situation.
Still, Kent knew better than to relax. As a traveler, his instincts for danger were sharper than most.
If these monsters grew strong enough to withstand modern weaponry, humans would become nothing more than lambs waiting for slaughter.
"I need to become stronger quickly," Kent thought. "I'm not sure what kind of person Uncle Li is, but I feel like he's not someone ordinary. I can ask him for help to hunt monsters outside the city. Only by fighting directly in life-or-death battles can I grow faster."
For the first time, Kent had a clear goal: to keep growing stronger and combat all visible or potential threats.
Having died once and experienced the terror of death, he never wanted to face it again.
With this resolve, Kent dedicated more time to physical training, focusing on strengthening his body.
As they say, "The body is the foundation of revolution." A Beastmaster's journey could be likened to a game of chess, where the monsters are pawns and knights, and the Beastmaster is the king.
With the Divine Pet Evolution System, Kent didn't need to worry about lacking strong beasts, so he focused more on improving his own physique. After all, if he died, he'd lose everything.
As time passed, the National Beastmaster Tournament's preliminary round was approaching.
This day was a significant event, as every year at this time, high schools across the thirty-six Star Cities would hold the Beastmaster Tournament. Participants numbered in the millions, all high school seniors.
The preliminary round was straightforward and consisted of three phases: the first phase was an elimination round, the second was a points ranking, and the third was the Seed Battle.
The first phase was simple—just sign up and demonstrate your Beastmaster's strength, with a minimum of level 10 required.
Anyone who met this condition was considered to have graduated high school. However, that didn't mean they could attend university. Only those who ranked in the top 360,000 on the points leaderboard could continue their studies at university.
Each Star City only had one university, named after the city, like the "Micro Light University" in Micro Light City. Each university admitted exactly 10,000 new students per year.
To get into university, many students would show off their skills during the points ranking stage to get a high score.
Kent and his classmate, Zhou Yun, easily passed the elimination round.
Kent was level 20 Gold-tier, but the tournament didn't explicitly require Beastmaster tier levels. Most commoners had Bronze-tier beasts, while those with better family backgrounds might possess Silver-tier beasts.
As for Gold-tier beasts, there were only a few in each high school, and Saint Stone High was known for having only one—Zhao Mengxi.
Zhou Yun's beast was a Bronze-tier at level 12, enough to qualify for the ranking round, but his chances of placing were slim. After all, even Zhao Xuan's Silver-tier level 14 Blue-eyed Violent Wolf was only considered average in their school. The mid-level beasts in the school were already near level 20.
However, Zhou Yun was a calm and resigned person. He didn't expect much from the competition and considered graduating successfully as a good outcome.
Kent thought of helping him, but he didn't feel it was necessary, and more importantly, he wasn't ready to reveal his beast's strength yet.
Earlier, Garfield had killed thirteen beasts, which was impressive, but those were all Bronze-tier, mostly at level 10 or so. A Silver-tier beast of the same level could easily defeat them.
So, when others speculated about Kent's strength, they didn't think it was anything extraordinary, just curious about how his beasts had evolved.
About 20% of the students were eliminated in the first round, leaving about 3,000 competitors from Saint Stone High.
Thanks to advanced technology, the competition was managed by an electronic system that intelligently handled the matchups, much like in a video game, with rankings adjusted in real-time. The efficiency was astonishing.
The next day, after watching the Beastmaster points match for two hours, Kent heard the announcement over the training hall's loudspeakers:
"Platform 5, please have Kent from Class 9 of Grade 3 and Xiao Caocao from Class 17 of Grade 3 come to the stage."
Kent stood up calmly, leaping over the heads of several students with Garfield following him and landing smoothly on the stage.
Xiao Caocao, a petite and delicate-looking girl with a shy demeanor, entered the ring carrying a potted plant, her face flushed with embarrassment from being the center of attention.
The two exchanged polite gestures and introduced their beasts.
"Hello, my beast is level 20," Kent said.
"Wow, such a high level! My beast is only level 17. Little brother, please go easy on me," Xiao Caocao said sweetly.
"Of course, of course. I'll take care of it," Kent smiled.
As the ten-second countdown began, Xiao Caocao softly whispered, "Grow."
To everyone's surprise, the pot of climbing ivy in her hands immediately grew to a height of several meters, splitting into three tendrils that swirled around, creating afterimages as they danced through the air, emitting a sound like breaking the air.