Beast Taming: My System is Bugged-Chapter 125 - 124: The Real Dark Horse Is Not Him
Gu Ming left his homeroom teacher’s office, having learned that he had scored a whopping 400 points, a perfect score for today’s exam.
Two hundred of those points came from the Jade Water Turtle and the Purple Marrow Vine, and he earned another one hundred from the potion vials.
Additionally, there were hidden points from cultivating and concocting potions in the back mountains, as well as protection and victory points.
All told, Gu Ming’s actual score exceeded four hundred points. However, due to the score cap, he could only receive four hundred.
As far as Gu Ming knew, no one in Class 1 had gotten a perfect score, and the same was true for Class 2.
The other students originally had a chance to compete for a perfect score too.
However, the competition for the potion vials was too fierce. Many students were worn down by successive battles and couldn’t fully leverage the advantages of their High-star Potential Pet Beasts.
Other students, in the process of trying to catch up on points later on, discovered that the weaker students had already been eliminated, leaving few points to be earned.
This made a perfect-scorer like Gu Ming seem even more incredible to the class.
’There was no one left for us to fight, only the strong ones remained. How did you earn so many points?’
Gu Ming just stood there, feeling the many gazes of his classmates on him—some malicious, some jealous, some envious, and even some that were just stunned.
"Gu Ming, I’ve been looking for you all day. Were you deliberately avoiding me?"
Behind Gu Ming, the indignant voice of Zhou Ruoyun rang out.
Gu Ming turned to see her with her arms crossed, her cheeks puffed out in a pout.
Zhou Ruoyun had considered Gu Ming a crucial challenger for the monthly exam and had spent the entire day searching for him, only to come up empty.
She had searched the mountains all day without finding him, only to finally spot him during the final point tally.
Gu Ming, however, knew why.
It was because of Mouse Treasure. It had used its Earth Shifting Technique to sense the other students moving through the mountains ahead of time. This gave Gu Ming a natural advantage in planning his route, allowing him to avoid potential battles with stronger opponents.
The majority of Gu Ming’s points for this perfect score came from hidden points in the cultivation category.
Most of his combat points had been earned in the morning.
By the afternoon, Gu Ming was basically moving with the intention of avoiding combat.
Because of this, his two most significant battles of the exam were against Fang Leng from Class 2 and Wang Zidong.
Aside from those, there were no other particularly intense fights.
After all, Cyan Treasure had been fairly injured in those two battles. Even though Gu Ming had applied medicine from the back mountains, continuing with high-intensity combat would have been detrimental to Cyan Treasure’s health.
That was why Gu Ming spent the afternoon avoiding any fights.
Faced with Zhou Ruoyun’s angry interrogation, Gu Ming just shrugged, having no intention of responding to her provocation.
He had a wager with Wang Zidong; as long as his monthly exam score was higher, it counted as a win.
The same logic applied to Zhou Ruoyun.
All he had to do was beat her score.
Her Pet Beast’s potential score was also very high. In the recent three-dimensional score test, her Pet Beast’s score was far ahead, achieving an average of 70 points in the physical assessment, meaning its three-dimensional score reached a terrifying 210 points.
Gu Ming’s three-dimensional score, on the other hand, was only 155 points total—several dozen points lower than hers.
As a Low-star Pet Beast, Cyan Treasure was indeed at a disadvantage during the physical assessment.
Their Pet Beasts ate all sorts of good things, able to convert tangible energy and matter into powerful physiques. But no matter how much Cyan Treasure ate, the increase in its physical strength could hardly compare.
After all, Cyan Treasure was just a Basic Type Pet Beast.
Its starting point was naturally low. Even after Evolution, it would be difficult to surpass the others in terms of muscle mass.
Before long, the teacher announced that the grade-wide ranking list had been sent to the class group chat.
Gu Ming quickly took out his phone, opened the file, and scrolled to find his grade-wide ranking.
Right after school let out that evening, the teacher had posted the list of scores for the grade-wide rankings to the class group chat for everyone to download.
Gu Ming glanced at his score: 400 + 295 + 155 = 850 points!
points away from the perfect score of 1,000.
Grade-wide ranking... First place.
The moment the results came out, the entire class instantly erupted.
"No way!"
"How is he still first place?!"
"What about Fang Leng from Class 2? Didn’t he get a perfect score in both Mana and Speed? What happened to him?!"
The students of Class 1 rubbed their eyes, thinking they had misread it.
However, the more well-informed students had already estimated the results, so they weren’t too surprised.
But knowing was one thing; seeing the actual grade rankings released, they still couldn’t help but steal a few more glances at Gu Ming.
’This guy... is too damn lucky.’
"Everyone, Gu Ming’s first-place rank is well-deserved. Both Fang Leng and Wang Zidong were defeated by Gu Ming, and they were both strong contenders for the top spot," the homeroom teacher announced publicly, dispelling everyone’s doubts. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
She didn’t mention it was a two-on-one fight. There was no need to say such a thing; it was enough that the teachers knew.
For the students below, it was better that they remained unaware.
They would be motivated to catch up and try to dethrone Gu Ming in the next assessment.
Besides, teaming up was allowed in the first place. A Combat Element and a Cultivation Element working together was a perfect way for them to complement each other’s strengths.
As long as the team size wasn’t absurdly large and they weren’t just ganging up to farm points, it was fine.
Gu Ming looked at second place. It was Zhou Ruoyun from Class 1, with 340 + 300 + 208 = 848 points!
Only a two-point difference.
When Zhou Ruoyun saw it, she was so furious she could have coughed up blood. She nearly fainted from rage.
The students in third and fourth place also felt their vision go dark, gritting their teeth in frustration.
They weren’t far behind Gu Ming’s score, only off by a few points. Some were just ten points shy—the equivalent of defeating two more Pet Beasts.
「After a fierce battle of scores, you, with the swagger of an Old Deng in his fifties, stand at the head of the new era’s tide.」
「No one ever expected that the Grass and Wood Flood Dragon, on the verge of dying from old age, could actually have a second spring.」
「Probability of encountering risk +100%」
Gu Ming: "..."
He had been quite happy, thinking he could get more Spirit Stones.
But being targeted by a whole crowd of people didn’t seem so great.
Gu Ming hoped everyone would compete fairly and not resort to dirty tricks behind his back.
But he knew that was a tall order.
Now that he’d taken first place, the prominent families in the school were probably not happy.
It was one thing for him to take first in the previous two years.
Back then, no one had contracted Pet Beasts, so that ranking didn’t hold much weight.
Now that Pet Beast battles had begun, the competition among everyone had entered a white-hot stage.
Those high-and-mighty factions naturally couldn’t bear to see Gu Ming continue to occupy the throne of grade-wide first place.
「Grade rankings have been released. The award ceremony will begin immediately. The school is preparing to give you Spirit Stones as a reward, but at this moment, the entire school’s focus is no longer on you, but on someone else.」
"Alright everyone, head to the auditorium to assemble. The principal will personally present the awards to the top ten in the grade..."
the homeroom teacher said from the front, waving her hand for everyone to get moving.
Gu Ming followed the crowd, and seeing the system’s prompt, he scanned the ranking list again. He skipped past the other students, his eyes stopping only when they reached the name Lu You.
Lu You, ranked 25th in the grade, total score of 763 points. Pet Beast: Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster.
It seemed like Gu Ming was the focus of this monthly exam.
However, the real dark horse was actually Lu You from the regular class. She was the one who had truly shocked the entire student body and faculty.
To jump three hundred places in one go and ascend to 25th in the grade—how absolutely heaven-defying!
