Chapter 118: Chapter 100: Hard Work Is Worthless Before Talent_2
At that time, Lin Chen and Xiaobai were a bit confused, not expecting combined skills to be so popular.
However, this was typical of Lin Chen not realizing others’ hunger when he was too full; combined skills were initially rare in the Beast Taming World, and due to their high entertainment value and immense power, they have always had unwavering popularity among the masses.
Just like that, Lin Chen advanced to the top 64 of the qualifiers through three rounds of crushing victories.
Similar to Lin Chen, almost all the seed players favored by the casinos advanced to the qualifiers.
Except for the tenth-ranked "unlucky guy."
He encountered Li Jiuxiao in the first round and was easily crushed out by the Beast King’s Cub.
After three games, it was clear that Li Jiuxiao’s spirit beast was almost still in a state of not having warmed up and was conserving its strength.
The most attention-grabbing was Dasa from Nanfen Ancient Country.
This foreigner also won three consecutive matches, but he seemed brainwashed, as he would heavily injure his opponents’ spirit beasts each time and leave behind the phrase:
"The ox-type spirit beasts from Nanfen Ancient Country are number one in the world!"
This made the spectators very upset; initially, the people of Cangling Ancient Country were not antagonistic towards foreigners, but this show-off behavior was intolerable deep down.
"Let him draw Li Jiuxiao in the next round, and he’ll behave himself."
"Indeed."
"Please, let him draw Li Jiuxiao, or even Wan Ming."
When it comes to internal conflicts, the people of Cangling Ancient Country can handle them, but in external matters, they maintain a high level of unity.
However, the draw hadn’t begun, and the first round of popularity voting commenced.
According to the competition rules, after each round of matches, votes can be cast. Every spectator entering the venue, based on their Beast Tamer Guild number, receives two popularity votes:
One is the strongest popularity vote.
One is the best skill vote.
...
After the preliminaries, there’s a three-day break.
Black Mountain City arranged the competition very reasonably, since battles involving spirit beasts inevitably lead to depletion and injury, so during the preliminaries, the matches are spaced about two days apart.
So now, seven days have passed since the start of the championship.
"It’s announced! It’s announced!"
During a meal, Qin Hao rushed in with an excited and fervent expression.
"What is announced?" Lin Chen asked curiously.
"The voting results," Qin Hao said.
Lin Chen then remembered, though he didn’t care much, he asked out of curiosity: "Who’s first?"
"Hehe, guess."
"It should be Li Jiuxiao," Lin Chen said.
Gold shines wherever it is; Li Jiuxiao has too many auras on him; it’s hard not to be first.
"Correct." Qin Hao said, "The first is indeed Li Jiuxiao."
"Then why are you happy? I thought the popularity first would be Brother Lin," Cai Yuanji said and then spoke to Lin Chen: "Brother Lin, I voted for you this time."
"Brother Lin’s position isn’t low, ranking fourth," Qin Hao said and took out the list:
First place, Li Jiuxiao
Second place, Wan Ming
Third place, Li Qiuqiu
Fourth place, Lin Chen
...
Lin Chen thought about it and found it unsurprising. After all, Xiaobai’s appearance was already quite appealing, coupled with the preexisting popularity accumulated in Jiuxing City.
The rank at the bottom, 64th place:
Dasa.
This was unsurprising as well.
This person was too ostentatious and bound to stir resentment.
"What about the other?"
"Guess." Qin Hao’s eyes curled into a crescent shape.
"Is it Brother Lin?" Cai Yuanji somewhat understood Qin Hao.
Lin Chen was stunned, thinking it couldn’t be.
"That’s right." Qin Hao nodded and took out the list, showing the Best Skill Award, with Lin Chen firmly in the first place.
The second place wasn’t Li Jiuxiao but another Beastmaster whose spirit beast mastered combined skills.
However, comparing his battle strength with Xiaobai’s showed a considerable gap.
"The lead is enormous," Bai Jiajia glanced at the vote count.
Lin Chen led by about one-third of the votes, with a count of 14,753, while the second place had only 8,801 votes.
"Perhaps it’s due to..." Qin Hao stopped here, glancing at Xiaobai.
Others understood, surely these people were drawn to the Barbaric Bloodline.
Initially, Xiaobai didn’t understand, thinking for thirty seconds before catching on, and Niu Niu instantly puffed with frustration...
Really wants to prove Niu Niu isn’t "sick."
...
Three days later, the draw results were announced, and the qualifiers officially began.
Dasa did not draw Li Jiuxiao, nor Wan Ming, nor Lin Chen. His opponent was a rather unimpressive Beastmaster, with a spirit beast level of 17.
Reaching the qualifiers meant filtering out many chaotic spirit beasts, revealing the beast level and quality at this moment to be impressive.
Among the participants in the qualifiers, Entry-Level Beastmasters occupied eighty percent, with 52 individuals competing with a second spirit beast.
Apprentice Beastmasters like Lin Chen amounted to only 12 people.
The spirit beast levels were all above 16.
Regarding spirit beast quality, Lin Chen’s Plowhorn Beast, a low-level mortal beast, now stood out as unique, while the intermediate-level mortal beasts had three, and the remaining eight were high-level mortal beasts.
As for those 52 individuals, they were all in the Spirit Transformation level or above.
This time, Lin Chen’s opponent had a significant background, ranking twelfth, part of the Li Family, with the match scheduled on the first day of the qualifiers.
When Lin Chen’s match was about to begin, it immediately attracted a lot of attention.
Many wanted to see Xiaobai triggered into "mad cow syndrome."
After all, spectators enjoying drama never mind more disturbances.
Up in the stands, Li Jiuxiao also brought along Li Family disciples, and Li Qiuqiu beside him looked at Lin Chen appearing and said, "Young master, do you think Li An can win?"