Novel Full Chapter 898 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - Chaos - 4
Chapter 898 – Taming the Fifth Year – Attrition – Chaos – 4
It was absurd…
It was reckless…
It was dangerous in ways that probably wouldn’t manifest entirely until later development phases.
And it was absolutely brilliant in the pure audacity of attempting it despite every authority saying it was a bad idea.
The audience erupted in conversations, spectators processing what they’d just witnessed. A beast with opposing elements wasn’t something they saw frequently. It was a rarity bordering on impossibility according to conventional knowledge.
Min had apparently beaten those odds… Or at least, he’d beaten them so far. The real test would come when the serpent attempted advancing beyond Gold 1 toward Gold 2 and the strain on its dual-element structure increased exponentially without making it immediately collapse into elemental chaos.
Min smiled widely from his position, clearly enjoying the shock the revelation had caused. “I spent months working on this. It was totally worth it just to see everyone’s expressions!”
And honestly, the result was impressive even if the method had been risky in the extreme.
“You’re an idiot,” Ren responded with a tone carrying affection mixed with criticism. “But I have to admit it’s an interesting innovation. Though we’re going to have a long discussion about the risks you took after the exams finish.”
Min shrugged with carelessness communicating he’d anticipated exactly that response. “A long conversation is a small price for having a beast that can do this,” he replied while ordering the serpent to demonstrate the capabilities that the element combination provided.
Or rather, when the combination fails to maintain perfect balance and creates unstable resonance?
A powerful explosion generated by elemental instability eliminated even more plants around the serpent. Not controlled detonation like the Amphibian’s chemical reactions but rather a consequence of water and fire energies briefly clashing instead of coexisting peacefully.
The explosion happened spontaneously when the serpent’s internal balance shifted too far in one direction.
The instability provided additional offensive capability through unpredictable detonations.
Fascinating and dangerous… Quintessentially Min.
And Ren observed with renewed attention, recognizing that the battle he’d assumed would be an easy victory had just become considerably more complicated.
Min seemed to have awakened a genuine appetite for explosions that Ren recognized as perfectly aligned with his friend’s chaotic nature.
It wasn’t simply their tactical effectiveness making explosive techniques attractive to Min but also the theatrical element they provided. Visual and auditory spectacle capturing attention in ways that more subtle methods never would achieve.
They undoubtedly suited the personality that thrived being the center of attention. The need to make others laugh that manifested in combat approach as much as in social interactions. Each explosion was a statement as much as a technique. Communication of “look at me, I’m doing something incredible” that resonated with the audience in ways more reserved tamers rarely achieved.
The crowd’s reaction confirmed it. All spectators were focused entirely on Min’s serpent despite Ren’s wolverine being an ultra rare beast too. His theatrical approach to combat drew eyes and held attention through pure spectacle.
But appreciation of Min’s style didn’t change the tactical reality Ren faced.
With a serpent capable of using fire to burn vegetation before parasitic drainage could establish, he could no longer take advantage of the wood field that had invested considerable resources creating during the battle against the Amphibian.
All that mana spent establishing the root and vine network was essentially lost now that the opponent had a perfect countermeasure. But Ren wasn’t a person who wasted resources just because the initial strategy became unviable.
Instead of simply abandoning plants that no longer served an aggressive purpose, he decided to absorb the energy remaining in the system and store it underground where he could access it later if the situation changed.
It was an investment in future flexibility. Keeping options open rather than completely committing to a single unique approach. The Wolverine executed the technique Ren had developed specifically for this type of resource management, with elemental control directing mana from surface roots toward deep storage where enemy interference would be minimal.
The mechanism worked through creating underground mana reservoirs. The roots extending 2-3 meters below the surface converted from active combat tools into passive storage vessels. Mana flowed from dying surface burning vegetation down through the root network into concentrated nodes positioned at strategic locations beneath the arena floor.
Not perfect storage, some mana loss was inevitable during transfer, but significantly better than allowing the energy to simply dissipate when all the plants were destroyed.
The arena surface cleaned gradually as vegetation retracted below ground, a process taking only seconds but recovering a significant percentage of energy that would otherwise have been wasted against the fire.
And with the field neutralized and resources partially recovered, Ren decided it was time for something he genuinely enjoyed when he had the opportunity.
The experimentation phase where he could systematically test the enemy beast capabilities without pressure of immediate victory being the sole priority.
Min had revealed a fascinating situation with the water and fire combination without stabilizer, and Ren wanted to understand exactly how it functioned before committing to the final strategy.
This was what separated good tamers from great ones. Good tamers saw an unexpected capability and immediately tried overwhelming it. Great tamers saw an unexpected capability and studied it first, extracting maximum information before deciding on optimal counter-strategy.
And Ren, despite the competitive context, was fundamentally a researcher at heart. The opportunity to observe a functioning dual-opposing-element system was too valuable to waste on immediate aggression.
He began with the most obvious element to test: fire against fire.
The Wolverine launched a flame projectile toward the serpent, a technique that was refined but not particularly massive in terms of invested energy.
A fireball approximately 30 – 40 centimeters in diameter. Approximately 800 – 1000 degrees Celsius at the core.
It was a test more than a serious attack. Observation of how Min’s beast would respond to the element it shared.
The response was revealing.
The fire the Wolverine projected wasn’t just resisted by water the serpent could generate…