Chapter 29: Cramming At The Last Minute
The Healer waved his hand nonchalantly, turned around, and left.
Ran Cai Jiao patted her head.
“Ah, it’s not your fault for not knowing. This is high school knowledge. I forgot you’re in ninth grade this year.”
“Speaking of which, your Weeping Ancient Willow is really amazing. Your battle commanding is great too.”
When it came to battle, Ran Cai Jiao got excited.
Not only her, her Pet Beast Silver Armor Vajra also came over.
“Ooh, ooh ooh!”
Ran Cai Jiao and Silver Armor Vajra whispered to each other. Soon, both the human and the ape looked at Ge Bai with full expectation on their faces.
“Ge Bai, Gang Zi says he hasn’t seen this kind of attack method before and still wants to battle with the Weeping Ancient Willow. Is that okay?”
Ge Bai looked at the Silver Armor Vajra, who was two people tall, and remained silent.
Without responding directly, she chose to ask her own Big Willow’s opinion first.
“Big Willow, do you still want to battle again? The opponent is Silver Armor Vajra.”
As she spoke, she pointed to the giant Gang Zi squatting obediently on the ground not far away.
Big Willow moved its branches and Willow Threads that had just been healed, feeling refreshed, and then nodded.
“No problem, Bai Bai. I can do it. The Healing Spell is great.”
Ge Bai was still a bit hesitant.
“But the opponent is really strong. No matter how you look at it, there’s no chance of winning.”
Unlike Ge Bai’s worry, Big Willow didn’t take it seriously.
“Just give it a try.”
Fine, since her own Pet Beast had said so, what more could Ge Bai say.
She gently patted the trunk twice, turned around to meet Ran Cai Jiao’s expectant gaze, her words still carrying a hint of hesitation.
“Battle isn’t impossible, but how to battle?”
“The Spiritual Power level difference is too great. The intensity of Wind Blade and Willow Whip isn’t enough to cross levels. They probably can’t break through your Gang Zi’s defense.”
In terms of Pet Beast Battle, Ge Bai had always been very clear-headed.
Ran Cai Jiao waved her hand carelessly.
“Just one round of practice.”
She was a bit embarrassed.
“Actually, mainly our Gang Zi has a habit. He gets itchy whenever he sees an opponent he hasn’t battled before.”
Hearing his Beast Tamer expose his old habits like this, Silver Armor Vajra nearby chuckled and scratched his head.
Fine, battle it is.
But Ge Bai didn’t rush. She held back Ran Cai Jiao.
“We’ll apply to delay the battle for a bit. Big Willow just told me he sensed the prototype of a new skill and needs to practice it for a while.”
Ge Bai adjusted the order in which she discovered the skill, using Big Willow as an excuse, making it sound more reliable.
Ran Cai Jiao naturally had no objections and was very willing.
She was happy to see Gang Zi’s opponent use more skills in the battle.
Especially since the opponent might be the only Weeping Ancient Willow in the entire interstellar that could use skills right now.
“No problem, no problem. Take your time practicing, as long as you want.”
Ran Cai Jiao also knew her battle proposal was indeed a bit abrupt, but since it was a request from her own Pet Beast, she had to find a way to satisfy it.
Seeing that Ge Bai had finally agreed, she hurriedly pulled Gang Zi, flipped onto the arena, afraid that Ge Bai and Big Willow would change their minds.
Without any intention of urging Ge Bai, she directly pulled Silver Armor Vajra to sit cross-legged on the arena, and the human and ape began to meditate and regulate their breathing.
Ge Bai didn’t expect her to be so diligent—either battling or cultivating.
She couldn’t help but sigh. Indeed, no strength came out of thin air.
Having a System is useless! The System doesn’t fill the skill bar out of thin air either!
“Crappy System.”
Unable to hold back, Ge Bai wanted to curse the System every day.
“Ding! Defeat (Repel) Spirit Plant Spirit Beast task progress reminder: Below First Order (7/100), Above First Order (0/10).”
“Task completion time limit: 14 days 21 hours.”
“Task failure punishment: Annihilation.”
A series of emotionless System sounds rang out.
What the hell? This System even threatens people?
Ge Bai ground her molars, took several deep breaths in a row, and tried to calm her mood.
Fine, fine. The battle with the Flat-topped Bear Macaque just now, two rounds back and forth, counted as two repels. That was considerate of the System.
Comforting herself, Ge Bai stopped complaining about the System and directly led Big Willow two steps further away from the arena before standing still.
Actually, she knew that winning or losing the battle wasn’t the most important thing. What mattered was improving Big Willow’s strength.
So Ge Bai decided to cram temporarily, to see if she could help Big Willow make a new breakthrough in skills.
She said solemnly to Big Willow.
“Big Willow, actually besides the skills just used, you have another skill.”
Visibly, Big Willow perked up instantly, especially spirited.
As expected, it was still that super diligent Big Willow.
“Ah, Bai Bai, what is it? Tell me quickly!”
Ge Bai had been pondering this these past few days. After all, the damn System only gave the name of one skill; the rest was up to guessing.
She wasn’t entirely clear on what the “Storm Willow Blade Hammer” skill entailed for Big Willow, which put her in a passive position, so she hadn’t mentioned it to Big Willow.
But in this situation now, she planned to tell Big Willow everything she had thought of, to see if she could activate this skill.
“This skill is called ‘Storm Willow Blade Hammer’. I think it should still count as a close-combat skill.”
“According to my understanding, it might be a skill evolved from Willow Whip combined with Wind Blade.”
“Big Willow, look, your Willow Threads are in clusters. They first extend from the main trunk into multiple branches, and then each branch grows a cluster of Willow Threads.”
“We can try gathering Spiritual Power on the branches, infusing all the Willow Threads on one branch with Spiritual Power, then urging the branch to exert force from the root, swinging out this entire cluster of Willow Threads.”
“This might be the prototype of the skill.”
Ge Bai explained her ideas as detailedly as possible.
“Then I’ll try.”
Big Willow nodded as if understanding, and directly began to mobilize the Spiritual Power in its body.
Actually, mobilizing the Spiritual Power in its body—this first step—was already a challenge for Big Willow.
For ordinary Spirit Beasts, the most common is to mobilize Spiritual Power to limbs or torso. Even mobilizing to eyes or ears, and using skills on that basis, are mid to Advanced Level skills.
Like the Porcupine Beast that battled Big Willow, it had “Thousand Arrows”, which required subdividing Spiritual Power to every spike—that was an Advanced Skill learned after evolving to Third Order.
If Ge Bai’s thinking was correct, then Big Willow’s “Storm Willow Blade Hammer” was no less difficult than “Thousand Arrows” in terms of difficulty.
Effort and reward are proportional, so the skill’s power was very much worth looking forward to.
Big Willow could now proficiently control about twelve Willow Threads, but the Willow Threads on this one branch clearly exceeded that number—even the thinnest branch had twenty or thirty Willow Threads.
Without letting Big Willow try slowly on its own, Ge Bai directly pressed her hand on Big Willow’s trunk and used the Meditation Art to help it mobilize and sort the Spiritual Power flow. The efficiency was much higher this way.
Even though the Spiritual Power contained in Big Willow’s body now wasn’t much, it was enough to distribute to every Willow Thread on one branch.
At most, the average Spiritual Power in each Willow Thread would be less, which would affect the skill’s Attack Power, but it wouldn’t affect Big Willow learning this skill.
Gradually, the Spiritual Power slowly and difficultly flowed into place.
This has potential!
