The award ceremony was scheduled to take place after the exhibition match between Sha Duo and Gao Xulu.
Before Qiao Sang left the arena, a staff member specifically ran up to ask her where she was sitting in the spectator stands, saying it was to facilitate her invitation onto the stage for the award presentation.
Unlike the formal and orderly award ceremonies of her previous life, most people in this Beast Taming society preferred flashy entrances.
The Beast Taming Tournament was alright; only the award presentation entrances were a bit extravagant.
But in the Coordination Competition, even the contestants' initial entrances had to be exceptionally ingenious.
The difference was that in the Coordination Competition, the contestants had to use their own wits to design their entrances.
In the Beast Taming Tournament, the entrance methods were managed by the organizers' planning department; the award recipients only needed to stay quiet and wait for their arrangements.
When Qiao Sang returned to the spectator stands, before Bai Yunmiao could even speak, an uncle sitting on the other side said enthusiastically
"Child, what school are you from? You performed wonderfully, much better than my useless son."
Just as Qiao Sang was about to answer, an auntie sitting in front of her also turned around and said, "Child, are you here alone? Didn't your parents come?"
"Student Qiao, do you have plans for the summer vacation? If not, come to our Longwu Junior Pet All-Inclusive Institution. You can let your Fire Fang Dog play to its heart's content inside to release its natural instincts. I'll give you a ten percent discount," a young man sitting in the front also said.
For a moment, the surroundings were filled with voices striking up conversations.
Qiao Sang responded to each one individually.
She wasn't actually used to dealing with so many strangers.
In her previous life, living in a fast-paced metropolis, people had very strong boundaries regarding strangers; human relationships were cold.
Forget living in the same residential complex—even neighbors across the hall might not even greet each other when they met face-to-face.
But the strangers speaking to her now were truly enthusiastic and full of goodwill.
Qiao Sang understood somewhat that this had something to do with her winning first place, but more importantly, in her previous life, people all had their own things to do.
Everyone had their own social circles.
These circles were so small that once you left campus, left the workplace, or even left your home, you might never have anyone to chat with again.
Because there was no intersection between people, there were no topics to discuss.
But now, the commonality of pets had tightly bound them together.
When the background music began to play and the commentator announced the official start of the exhibition match between Sha Duo and Gao Xulu, the people sitting around finally quieted down and turned their attention back to the arena.
"Genius Qiao, you're even more impressive than the class that just graduated from our school. If they came here, they probably wouldn't even be able to take first place," Bai Yunmiao said, her face full of admiration.
"Don't praise me blindly. The ones who are truly strong at this stage probably didn't even come to participate in the competition," Qiao Sang said, casually taking the sunglasses off Fire Fang Dog's face.
She had felt that these sunglasses looked awkward on Fire Fang Dog for a long time.
"Ya?"
Sensing the change in gaze, Fire Fang Dog lowered its head, used its paw to take the sunglasses back from its Beast Tamer's hand, and put them back on.
Qiao Sang: "..."
Who was the one refusing to wear them at first?
"After all, it clashes with the timing of the Interstellar Cup. But even so, setting aside the previous ones, the ones competing against you later, Hou Xiangyu and Wei Wenya—one is from Litan High School and the other just got into Yongda University—and you, how old are you? Any normal person would..."
Bai Yunmiao's words were interrupted by Qiao Sang.
"Look, quick! Sha Duo has sent out the Four-Way Swallow!"
Bai Yunmiao immediately silenced herself and looked toward the arena.
The red star array in front of Sha Duo had just vanished.
Before a Beast Tamer reveals their identity badge, the color of the star array is the standard widely used to confirm a Beast Tamer's rank.
An F-rank Beast Tamer's star array is white, an E-rank's is gray, a D-rank's is green, and a C-rank's is orange-yellow.
Red, however, was the mark of a B-rank Beast Tamer—or rather, it was proof that Sha Duo could contract five pets.
Gao Xulu's star array was also red.
Beneath her red star array, a pet about three meters long, with a red back, a grayish-white belly, and pure white wingtips and tail feathers, appeared on the field with its wings spread.
Not only that, but most of its feathers bore slightly eerie patterns.
They didn't look like they had grown naturally; instead, they looked as if they had been intentionally carved on.
Based on her limited knowledge, Qiao Sang vaguely knew that these patterns were very expensive...
There were many professions derived from pets, and Pet Spirit Engravers were one of them.
They could use special techniques to draw patterns on pets that could produce various effects.
These patterns could either accelerate energy condensation, increase defense or attack power, or even increase or suppress a pet's reproductive capability.
In short, there were many corresponding effects, but they had time and usage limits.
Official competitions did not allow engraved patterns on participating pets because this power was similar to the effect of wearing items; it belonged to an external force rather than the pet itself.
However, since this was an exhibition match, no one would say anything even if they were wearing items directly, let alone having engraved patterns.
Because an exhibition match didn't require a winner or loser; it only needed to reach a certain level of intensity.
But some supporters of Sha Duo expressed their lack of understanding, such as Bai Yunmiao.
"Gao Xulu's actual strength is already greater than Sha Duo's, so why did she send out a Blazing Arrow Fire Owl with engraved patterns? Isn't this bullying?"
"Maybe the effect of these patterns isn't the kind that increases strength," Qiao Sang speculated.
"That makes sense," Bai Yunmiao was immediately convinced.
The two focused their gaze on the Four-Way Swallow and the Blazing Arrow Fire Owl, which were already engaged in a fierce battle in the air.
Although the Four-Way Swallow was a size smaller than the Blazing Arrow Fire Owl, its momentum was not inferior in the slightest.
The two pets exchanged several moves in the blink of an eye, releasing skills continuously as if they didn't require energy.
After every skill collision, the two pets would cooperatively pull away to create distance before flying in another direction to attack each other, which the audience watched with great excitement.
Sha Duo and Gao Xulu did not issue any commands.
After about ten minutes of such combat, the Four-Way Swallow dodged a move of the Blazing Arrow Fire Owl's Air Flame and suddenly veered sideways toward the spectator stands.
Seeing this, the Blazing Arrow Fire Owl followed closely behind, not forgetting to unleash a Fierce Storm during the pursuit.
The Four-Way Swallow didn't look behind, but it seemed to sense the danger, dodging with a flick of its wings.
It was very thrilling, especially since the movement of both flying-type pets toward the spectator stands intensified the excitement.
"Holy crap!"
"Oh my god!"
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"Help!"
The direction the two pets were flying was toward the Section A spectator stands. The people in the stands scrambled to cover their heads and crouch down, terrified of being caught in the crossfire.
The Four-Way Swallow was flying extremely low, brushing past the spectators every time.
Fortunately, the Blazing Arrow Fire Owl behind it did not release any more skills.
However, the sight of the two pets chasing each other through the spectator stands, lowering their flight altitude to come into close contact with the audience every time, was a sensation more thrilling than a roller coaster.
Qiao Sang watched with trepidation.
Seeing that the Four-Way Swallow was about to fly into Section C, Qiao Sang held Fire Fang Dog with one hand and pulled Bai Yunmiao down to crouch with her.
Within three breaths, the Four-Way Swallow appeared in the Section C spectator stands.
Qiao Sang felt the violent rush of air above her; as the Four-Way Swallow passed her, the wind from its passage caused her ponytail to whip violently.
Fortunately, the Four-Way Swallow quickly flew away.
Qiao Sang breathed a sigh of relief, but just as she looked up, her body was suddenly jerked from her seat and appeared dozens of meters in the air.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"Ya!!!"
Qiao Sang was terrified, while Fire Fang Dog was excited.
Six seconds later, Qiao Sang appeared on the award podium with a deathly pale face, standing next to a similarly bloodless Wei Wenya.
"I now declare the official start of the Baixin Tournament award ceremony!"