Divine Beast Creator-Chapter 1967 - 1968: Clash
Due to Maomu Academy needing reconstruction to restore the facilities affected by the Abnormal Space incident, Feng Yuan and others received a notification from the school for field combat training.
Not only Feng Yuan and his group, but all students must undergo a week-long outdoor field combat training. Additionally, due to the need for dormitory reconstruction, the academy specifically notified them to transfer their belongings and either securely keep valuable items themselves or register them with their class teachers for unified storage.
Although Feng Yuan’s dormitory was also under reconstruction, he did not need to choose to take things home or store them at the academy’s designated storage place because he had the Sky Manor.
As for Qi Chen and the others’ belongings, Feng Yuan didn’t offer to store them in his Sky Manor. Since Feng Yuan himself didn’t have many valuable items, and although the renovation of the Sky Manor was nearing its end, there were still workers coming and going. Storing his items wasn’t much of a problem, but storing Qi Chen’s group’s items could be troublesome if anything happened.
Arriving early at the back mountain to wait for others, Feng Yuan looked up at Xiao Ji, who was still learning from Tamur to overcome hydrophobia. Feng Yuan thought for a moment and said,
"Xiao Ji, how about having a match with Ah Mu later?"
Xiao Ji looked at Feng Yuan with confusion and let out a puzzled cry, while Veronia looked at Feng Yuan, not quite understanding what he intended to do.
Seeing Xiao Ji’s bewildered look, Feng Yuan chuckled and said,
"Although Ah Mu has activated the Forest Domain, adapting to domain battles in advance might help avoid some detours."
Xiao Ji was worried about its decreased combat ability in environments like the Deep Sea Domain, but as of now, Feng Yuan couldn’t find any classmate using the Deep Sea Domain.
Moreover, everyone was unclear about what domain combat truly entailed, and even Xiao Ji had not actually experienced it yet.
Though Veronia and the others could activate all the Crystal Domains, due to their own strength issues, it was challenging for Xiao Ji to gain combat experience from battling them.
If it was a free-for-all, Xiao Ji was no match for them, and if they held back, Xiao Ji’s current practical battle skills wouldn’t gain much either.
Xiao Ji looked at Feng Yuan with eyes sparkling and called out in an overly sweet voice, while Veronia glanced at Xiao Ji and said,
"It’s asking if you’ll also join the battle?"
"Of course, after all, in Beastmaster battles, it’s rare for the Beastmaster not to participate. But I definitely won’t intervene in your fight."
With his arms crossed over his chest, Feng Yuan casually said. Normally in Beastmaster battles, one tactic is to directly target the opponent’s Beastmaster, but he didn’t want to do so, and Feng Yuan believed Qi Chen thought the same.
Because Ah Mu wasn’t skilled in this particular combat style, let alone that they couldn’t defeat Feng Yuan.
As for whether Qi Chen would refuse, Feng Yuan thought he probably wouldn’t. After all, Ah Mu was also adapting to battling within the Forest Domain. However, since the others just obtained their Domain Crystals and their Beasts couldn’t skillfully use the Crystal Domains yet, he couldn’t conduct practical training in this area.
Activating domains in internal system matches is asking for trouble; in non-system matches, activating a domain can make it difficult for the opponent to counter, thereby boosting victory chances, but it’s not significant because internal sparring practice isn’t about winning or losing.
Even if small tricks led to continuous victories, without any enhancement in practical skills, practical training would be ineffective.
Due to Xiao Ji’s Divine Beast status, finding classmates to battle wasn’t the best option, as its strength was evident. Despite Feng Yuan not much training Xiao Ji, it could train itself. However, because Feng Yuan obtained the power of Nainefar for Ah Mu, Ah Mu could somewhat compete evenly with Xiao Ji.
After everyone gathered, Feng Yuan unhesitatingly issued a battle invitation to Qi Chen, who didn’t refuse. He too wanted to see how Crystal Domain battles differed from previous ones.
The teacher beside them didn’t object. Although their Beasts mastered the Crystal Domains rapidly, as Maomu University delved deeper into research, they discovered that battles within Crystal Domains involve three main aspects. Firstly, the form transformation of ultimate moves.
Different Crystal Domains induce form changes in ultimate moves due to their innate effects, and some ultimate moves transform only in certain domains, which didn’t exist before.
These changes in ultimate moves, coupled with domain contention, complicate the aspects to focus on in battles.
Secondly, the bonus effects attached to the Crystal Domains. While theoretically, inner-system matches are best without activating Crystal Domains, as they indiscriminately amplify both sides’ Spirit Beasts, during combat tests, it was found that even Spirit Beasts of the same system showed differing effects from the Crystal Domain’s influence.
This implies activating a Crystal Domain doesn’t necessarily correlate directly with both parties’ attributes.
Thirdly, the alteration of environmental energy brought by Crystal Domains. Originally known to these Legendary Beast Masters, in battles above Legendary Level, energy density in the environment changes post-ultimate move usage, affecting the order and method of move execution differently than below Legendary Level.
However, with the emergence of Crystal Domains, this condition, once exclusive to above Legendary Level, also appeared in battles below Legendary Level during the activation of Crystal Domains.
This means domain contention doesn’t necessarily require immediate coverage. If the opponent’s ultimate move accuracy is low, allowing them some time to deplete energy before activating a more suitable Crystal Domain could be surprisingly effective.
Of course, this was concluded based on their experiences in battles above Legendary Level. For Feng Yuan and his group, they didn’t know what the outcome would be.
If most students’ Beasts hadn’t yet skillfully mastered the Crystal Domains, the teachers might suggest an all-out battle.
With permission granted, Feng Yuan and Qi Chen each stood ready. Xiao Ji landed in front of Feng Yuan, watchfully eyeing Ah Mu. Although the Hao Chun Bird wanted to help Ah Mu, it was persuaded to stay by Dou Yanlan, as it wasn’t part of Qi Chen’s Beasts.
"Go, Xiao Ji, use Netherworld Wind."
As the teacher acting as referee waved a small flag, Feng Yuan smiled and shouted to Xiao Ji, who chirped joyfully and took to the air, stirring a pale blue breeze.
The Netherworld Wind, a Death Series ultimate move, raises a wind from the Netherworld to attack the enemy while drawing power from the Netherworld to enhance the Death Series ultimate move’s potency. Seeing this, Qi Chen naturally couldn’t wait for Xiao Ji to complete its enhancement.
He was well aware of Xiao Ji’s strength. Even for Ah Mu, facing a fully enhanced Xiao Ji wouldn’t stand for long.
"Ah Mu! Use Lush Forest!"
Without immediately using the Crystal Domain, Qi Chen’s battle instinct told him it wasn’t the right time. Feng Yuan, with a look of regret, summoned nine small shields for defense.
He had Xiao Ji initiate with Netherworld Wind to deceive the Forest Domain out because it was hard to interrupt Netherworld Wind. This ultimate move’s lethality wasn’t its attack but its ability to continually draw power from the Netherworld.
This was a special terrain ultimate move before the Crystal Domains existed. Unfortunately, Feng Yuan hadn’t realized Qi Chen had already had Ah Mu master the special ultimate move Lush Forest. With a surge of Wood Element and Life Series energy, the Power of the Netherworld failed to take over the ground space and was instead pushed to the air.
"Keep maintaining Netherworld Wind, prepare Netherfire Bullet!"
Seeing Xiao Ji about to change ultimate moves, Feng Yuan immediately shouted. The Lush Forest granted Ah Mu powerful recovery power, and since both Lush Forest and Netherworld Wind drew energy from other places, they wouldn’t deplete energy like Crystal Domains, leading to decreased subsequent ultimate move power.
"Indeed, impressive."
Looking at the vigilant Qi Chen, Feng Yuan mumbled with a slight smile. If Qi Chen had Ah Mu activate the Forest Domain, although it would disperse the Netherworld Wind, it would significantly weaken subsequent Wood Element ultimate moves. Now, with the activation of the Lush Forest, both sides were reset to the same starting point.
The Netherfire Bullet didn’t break through Ah Mu’s Barrier. Just as Feng Yuan was about to give an order, his expression changed as a large number of Seistal Steles formed in the sky. With the Seistal Stele’s explosion, the Netherworld Wind in the sky was utterly disrupted by the explosive blasts.
