During the open campus period, although the ancient capital university campus was open to the public, there were actually very few training facilities that could be experienced by passersby. It was estimated that only the battle arena could be fully open to the public.
As for some training facilities that required energy to activate, they were mostly just introduced to visitors to spark their interest. If all facilities were fully open, the university would likely incur a huge loss over a month.
However, nothing is absolute, and there are always privileged individuals. Next, the beast-eared girl Bai Xi led Shi Yu to a huge high-rise building in the north campus.
Bai Xi walked in front, with Shi Yu and Shi Shi following behind. She took out a campus card, swiped it, and they successfully entered.
"Granny, are you there?"
After entering, Bai Xi looked toward the counter, where an old lady with white hair was tapping away on a computer, seemingly engrossed in her work and completely ignoring Bai Xi and Shi Yu who had just come in.
Then, Bai Xi and Shi Yu approached and fell silent.
"I'll finish this game, and then I'll be right there." The old lady stared at the game interface, her wrinkles trembling.
The screen was filled with sounds of "Ugh! Ahh!"
Wow, Granny!
After a moment of reflection, Shi Yu and Bai Xi quietly watched. After a while, the old lady angrily slammed the keyboard and then resumed her kind expression: "Ah, it's Little Bai Xi. What brings you here?"
"Granny, please issue a time-limited card and open a preparation room for me. There's a junior who hasn't enrolled yet and wants to experience the facilities."
"Oh, oh." The old lady glanced at Shi Yu and Shi Shi, smiled, and nodded. "For how long?"
The ancient capital university had a hidden policy: visitors brought by teachers or students could temporarily use some of the training facilities, which was a different treatment compared to those who came to visit on their own.
Bai Xi looked at Shi Yu and said, "Half a month."
"Alright." The old lady nodded.
Then, Bai Xi said to the old lady, "Granny, please open the basic level for us now. I'll take him to prepare first."
After understanding, Bai Xi led Shi Yu to the preparation room on the first floor.
...
In the preparation room, Bai Xi had Shi Yu sit down and began to act as a teacher.
"You must already know how to use the relic bead to store and retrieve items, which are basic skills."
"Also, you must have mastered how to enter the relic bead, which is the foundation for mastering the 'etherealization' ability."
"To use this legendary beast master's ability in advance, the key is to establish a connection between your beast space and the relic bead."
Then, Bai Xi began to teach Shi Yu a special method to control the relic bead.
The beast space truly held many secrets. Sometimes, Shi Yu also wondered why the evolutionary path of humans in this world was specifically focused on beast mastery, with a small world inside their bodies. In another world, this would have made them super beings.
While explaining, Bai Xi added:
"Using this ability is not without a cost."
"Each second of etherealization consumes a lot of physical energy. In a sense, this ability can be considered a second life-saving talent that only awakens at the legendary level."
"I understand..." Shi Yu looked as if he had seen through life.
Previously, he was celebrating that he didn't need to expend energy to command battles.
But just a day later, he was faced with an ability that required energy to activate.
This ability seemed to be deliberately designed to tempt him to take risks. Etherealization, this ability was truly a double-edged sword...
Shi Yu spent about half an hour initially understanding how to establish a connection between his beast space and the relic bead through his will, and then complete etherealization. Although the process was a bit complicated, it was said that with more practice, it would become instantaneous.
Having a good teacher was indeed important. Bai Xi explained everything in great detail to Shi Yu.
"Want to try?"
After Shi Yu finished meditating and opened his eyes, Bai Xi smiled at him.
"Sure." Shi Yu nodded, focused his mind, and felt a flash of lightning in his brain.
Spatial secret technique, etherealization!
In an instant, with a "Swoosh!!!" sound, Shi Yu's figure seemed to become a phantom, briefly disappearing from the world for a second. At the same time, Shi Shi, who had been dozing on Shi Yu's shoulder, suddenly woke up and fell to the ground!
Shi Shi: βο½Oβ²β Roar
What's going on?!!
It didn't hurt, but it was quite shocking. What just happened?
"Did it work?" Shi Yu quickly recovered, his face filled with surprise.
Shi Shi looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Faced with Shi Shi's confusion, Shi Yu explained the etherealization to her with joy.
"Very good, now let's practice in a real battle." Bai Xi smiled.
"I've arranged a half-month time-limited card for you. You can come here to practice your abilities for the next half month."
"Follow me."
Bai Xi's style was decisive. She didn't give Shi Yu a moment to catch his breath and immediately left the preparation room, heading back to the old lady's office.
"Ready? The basic level is open, you can enter anytime." The old lady said.
Bai Xi looked at Shi Yu, gesturing for him to come closer and look at the computer screen.
On the computer screen, an environment was displayed, and various extraordinary creatures were generated around it.
Shi Yu looked at the screen and felt a sense of unease, sensing a bad omen.
"These extraordinary creatures are energy bodies generated by machines. Their combat modes, skills, and forms are the same as real creatures, with the only difference being that their power is reduced to the minimum. Even if a normal person is hit by their skills, they will only feel some pain, not be injured."
"The basic level has 10 types of extraordinary creatures. Your task is to survive for 10 minutes while avoiding danger as much as possible."
"Oh, by the way, you don't need to bring your Iron-Eating Beast. You need to practice your own skills, and you don't need your pet's help."
After Bai Xi spoke, Shi Shi was surprised and gave Shi Yu an encouraging look, cheering him on.
Shi Yu: "???"
Shi Yu pointed at himself. "By myself?"
"Yes." Bai Xi nodded. "Don't worry, this is just the most basic level, mainly to train a beast master's reaction and ability to handle danger."
"Bringing your pet would reduce the training effect, as your survival skills don't require assistance from your pet."
"Alright..." Shi Yu nodded and, under Bai Xi's guidance, went to a room on the second floor.
...
On the second floor, in a large room, the 10 extraordinary creatures were scattered in various corners. Seeing the spacious room, Shi Yu sighed in relief, at least he wouldn't be immediately overwhelmed...
However, he was still too naive. As soon as he entered the room, the 10 creatures immediately launched their attacks!
The Wind Crystal Butterfly swung a wind blade, the Poison Dart Frog shot a poison arrow, and the Skeleton Soldier raised its bone sword and charged at Shi Yu...
The 10 extraordinary creatures attacked almost simultaneously, scaring Shi Yu into entering the etherealization state.
Such a dense attack would have been impossible to dodge without etherealization. Shi Yu felt that even with Shi Shi, unless she used her intimidation to instantly defeat all enemies, she couldn't protect him from all attacks.
Perhaps only a master-level hardening, giving himself a layer of protection, would allow him to withstand the attacks.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Shi Yu completed his etherealization, and all the attacks missed.
Outside.
The old lady, Bai Xi, and Shi Shi were watching the situation in the room on the computer screen.
"Using etherealization..." The old lady looked at Bai Xi after seeing Shi Yu's survival technique.
"This little student of yours has a special background, doesn't he?"
Bai Xi nodded. A new student recommended by Senior Lu couldn't be simple.
Solving a relic and obtaining a relic bead during the probationary period, even top-tier second-generation beast masters couldn't do better.
"He just mastered etherealization. With a probationary beast master's physique, sustaining the etherealization state for about half a minute is the limit."
"If he can't use etherealization reasonably, he will soon be in danger and fail the challenge." Bai Xi looked at the screen, feeling helpless.
What a waste!
Etherealization is not a permanent buff; it should be used at critical moments. Keeping it active all the time is wasteful. Does Shi Yu understand the purpose of this training?
"First time, he needs to adapt slowly..." The old lady, being experienced, said sympathetically.
In the screen, Shi Yu remained in etherealization, making the fierce beasts attack like headless flies, unable to hit him.
30 seconds passed.
40 seconds passed...
45 seconds passed, and the expressions of the old lady and Bai Xi became increasingly strange!
"How can he maintain etherealization for so long?" Bai Xi was puzzled. She had also mastered etherealization during her probationary period and knew the approximate duration for different levels and states.
But with Shi Yu, something seemed off?
"Chirp!" At this moment, Shi Shi watched the screen calmly, analyzing the old lady's and Bai Xi's expressions.
Shi Shi remained calm, not making a fuss. Wasn't it just that Shi Yu showed exceptional physical energy?
Shi Shi wanted to say that it wasn't that Shi Yu's physical energy was much better than other beast masters of the same level, but rather that he had rich "etherealization" experience.
Shi Yu, who could remain unfazed after being in a weakened state for dozens of hours, could certainly afford to overuse his physical energy for a bit. It was reasonable!
"This is unreasonable." Bai Xi stared at the screen, puzzled.
At this moment, Shi Yu was also deep in thought.
He felt that this couldn't go on. He was almost at his limit.
This etherealization was more energy-consuming than he had imagined!
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
While Shi Yu was thinking about how to solve this level, the Skeleton Soldier's bone sword kept swinging in front of him, making him restless.
"Wait, since this level isn't as dangerous as I thought, maybe I can take the initiative to counterattack?"
"Senior Bai Xi also said that a truly excellent beast master should have the courage to face extraordinary creatures directly."
Shi Yu paused, and a hidden spirit of recklessness, combined with his archaeological passion, suddenly awakened.
He remembered the reason he entered the archaeological field.
Actually, the first time Shi Yu encountered the term "archaeology" on Earth was through an animated series.
"Jackie Chan Adventures"!
The story was about the archaeologist and martial arts expert Jackie Chan exploring various mysterious and suspenseful mysteries around the world.
At that time, the young Shi Yu, influenced by his middle school spirit, thought Jackie Chan was very cool and even tried to imitate him.
He not only studied archaeology but also practiced martial arts, trying to replicate Jackie Chan's high-difficulty moves.
The result was that Shi Yu ended up in an ambulance.
This made him realize that animated series were fake.
However, dreams never end. As he grew up, Shi Yu studied many other martial arts.
Various fighting techniques and styles, he knew a little of each, which helped him survive a bit longer.
In any case, he couldn't fulfill his dream on Earth due to various reasons, but now, the opportunity had come.
He now had magical abilities and improved physical strength, which greatly boosted his courage. With a determined look, he exited the etherealization state and kicked the Skeleton Soldier, who was wildly swinging its sword, sending it flying and dropping its bone sword.
Shi Yu picked up the bone sword, swung it nervously, and aimed it at the remaining nine fierce beasts.
This was a moment of recklessness!
"Can I do this?" This might be the first step to becoming a superhuman on Earth!