Chapter 112: The Reason for the Temporary Closure of the Beast-taming Gyms

“Alright, then!”

Seeing that Giles, who was in charge of operating the scene simulator, was already prepared, Hash reminded Annie, “As the format of this ability evaluation is the same as the usual challenges in gyms, Miss Annie, as the challenger, you can determine the environment for the scene simulation.”

As an old acquaintance who had challenged Starlux Gym several times, Annie was naturally very familiar with these procedures.

As soon as Hash mentioned that she could choose the scene for the simulation, she told her about the environment she needed, “Okay, I choose an environment with forests and shrubs. Additionally, I would like to request for the dome of the evaluation section to be opened.”

Hearing Annie tell him the environment she needed, Giles, who was already prepared, began to operate the scene simulator.

Tap tap tap… Buzz…

As Giles kept pressing the buttons on the simulator, mist-like spiritual energy began to rise in the arena.

Unlike when Giles was training the Metal-feathered Eagle in this venue this morning, the spiritual energy that rose from the arena this time was the tender green color that represented the plant element.

As time passed, the density of the fog-type spiritual energy continued to increase.

The tender green spiritual energy surging in the arena was like a grassland blown by a gentle breeze.

When the concentration of spiritual energy reached a certain level, the surging spiritual energy began to condense.

Eventually, the green spiritual energy condensed into tall trees and short shrubs in the arena.

Click…

After Giles, who was operating the scene simulator, set the environment in the arena, he turned on the switch for the evaluation section’s dome.

While the spiritual energy in the arena condensed into trees and shrubs, the morning sun illuminated the entire evaluation section.

The warm sun shone on the trees and shrubs condensed from spiritual energy.

This filled the tender green leaves with vitality, as if they had become real trees and shrubs.

As for the spectators, they did not idle around during this period of time.

Seeing that Annie did not hesitate to choose the battle environment that was most advantageous to the cat, they expressed their thoughts.

“Sunlight that can strengthen photosynthesis, a battle environment constructed from wood-type spiritual energy, a forest that can interfere with the flight of bird-type spirit beasts, and bushes that can conceal one’s body. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Miss Annie has made ample preparations for today’s challenge!”

“Looks like Miss Annie is doing just as she said. Even if Giles’ Metal-feathered Eagle is a Silver-rank spirit beast with an incomplete evolution, she will still give it her all in this challenge out of respect for Giles and the Metal-feathered Eagle.”

“Although we have already cleared the misunderstanding with Her Excellency Hash, if Miss Annie and her Leaf-eared Cat exert their full strength in this battle environment, I think Giles and his Silver-rank Metal-feathered Eagle will definitely lose.”

“I think Giles’ still has a chance of winning. Don’t forget that Giles was the dark horse who won the Florida Beast-taming Gym Tournament last month.”

“However, the difference in combat strength between a Silver-rank spirit beast and a Gold-rank spirit beast is not something that can be easily made up for with the Beast Tamer’s powerful commanding skills.”

“That’s right! Furthermore, Miss Annie is also a Gold-rank Beast Tamer. Coupled with the attributes and environment of this place, it will be beneficial for her Leaf-eared Cat to perform. I think Miss Annie has a 90% chance of winning this challenge.”

“It still depends on Miss Annie’s Leaf-eared Cat’s current Combat Effectiveness Rank . Although Giles’ Metal-feathered Eagle is currently in a state of incomplete evolution, since it was able to evolve previously, that means that it at least has the bloodline potential of a Gold rank. Furthermore, its current combat strength should at least be at Silver-rank seven stars and above.”

“…”

While Giles was operating the scene simulator, he also heard the discussion between the spectators.

From time to time, they would mention the words “Bloodline potential” and “Combat Effectiveness Rank”.

These two words were the main reason why the Beast Tamer Association had temporarily closed the Beast-taming Gyms.

That was, the Beast Tamer Association wanted to carry out a complete system reform on the evaluations of the strength of Beast Tamers and the rank of spirit beasts.

Therefore, as the official agencies responsible for evaluating strength and rank, the Beast-taming Gyms were temporarily closed for a week.

During this week, all the gym leaders of the Beast-taming Gyms focused their attention on learning and applying the brand new strength and rank evaluation method.

For example, the ‘Bloodline Potential’ of spirit beasts was now divided into seven ranks from low to high.

They were Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Epic, Legendary and Mythic.

Among them, spirit beasts whose bloodline potential had reached Gold rank and above would evolve during a certain period or when they fulfilled certain criteria.

Spirit beasts whose bloodline potential reached the Legend rank or above would evolve twice during a certain period or when they fulfilled certain criteria.

However, under normal circumstances, no matter how high the bloodline potential of a spirit beast was, its initial “cCombat Effectiveness Rank” would start from the lowest Bronze-rank One Star and increase from there.

When its Combat Effectiveness Rank rose from one-star to nine-star Bronze rank, it would encounter a bottleneck.

If it could successfully break through the bottleneck, its Combat Effectiveness Rank would increase to become Silver-rank one star.

This set of Combat Effectiveness Ranking from Bronze-rank to Mythic-rank, and from one-star to nine-star, was also suitable for the evaluation of a Beast Tamer’s strength.

For example, when the Combat Effectiveness Rank of a spirit beast was increased, the Beast Tamer who contracted with it would not only have their spiritual power increased, but their physique would also be enhanced.

The first time Hash came to Starlux Gym to meet Giles, she had determined through her spiritual perception that Giles had been at the ‘Silver-rank, five star’ Combat Effectiveness Rank at that time.

When a spirit beast broke through to the Epic rank, the Beast Tamer who had contracted it and grew together with it would also come into contact with a trace of the Power of the Universe together with their Epic-rank spirit beast.

For example, as an Epic-rank Beast Tamer, Hash and her Tree-tailed Alligator Snapping Turtle, who was about to break through to the Legend rank, had already come into contact with the Power of the Universe.

Although the Beast Tamer Association claimed that this was a new method to evaluate one’s strength and rank, it was still based on the previous method which had undergone a drastic improvement.

This was because before this system reform, the concept of “bloodline potential” and “combat effectiveness rank” had already existed.

However, when they were evaluating spirit beasts, they had simply used the highest rank between the two as a determiner.

Annie’s pre-evolution Green-tailed Cat was an example.

The upper limit of the Green-tailed Cat’s bloodline potential was recognized as Silver-rank.

The bloodline potential of some of the weaker Green-tailed Cats might even lower at the Bronze rank.

The upper limit of the bloodline potential determined the upper limit of a Green-tailed Cat’s combat effectiveness rank after it had undergone training.

The bloodline potential of the Green-tailed Cat was at the Silver rank. After being trained by Annie, who was a Gold-rank Beast Tamer, it could barely reach the Gold rank.

However, if the Green-tailed Cat’s bloodline potential was Bronze rank, then even if its Beast Tamer was Gold-rank, the highest rank it could attain would only be Silver rank.

Therefore, before this reform, Annie’s Green-tailed Cat was at Silver rank because of its bloodline potential.

While its combat effectiveness rank was still at the Bronze rank, it would be evaluated as a Silver-rank spirit beast.

When its Beast Tamer, Annie, underwent the strength evaluation, she would be certified as a “Silver-rank Beast Tamer” because she had only contracted this Silver-rank spirit beast.

After the Green-tailed Cat broke through to the Gold rank under Annie’s training, it would be evaluated as a Gold-rank spirit beast.

Moreover, its Beast Tamer, Annie, would be certified as a Gold-rank Beast Tamer because she had trained it into a Gold-rank spirit beast.

However, after the institutional reforms, the concept of “bloodline potential” and “combat effectiveness rank” were no longer vague.

The evaluation of Beast Tamers’ strength and the evaluation of their spirit beasts were no longer linked together.

Therefore, during the evaluation of a spirit beast, it would be separately labeled as its ‘bloodline potential’ being at the Gold rank, and its current ‘combat effectiveness rank’ at Bronze rank, one star.

Even if a Beast Tamer had already canceled the contract with their Epic-rank spirit beast for some special reason, as long as he came into contact with a trace of the Power of the Universe, he would be an Epic-rank Beast Tamer even if he did not have a spirit beast.