As for whether Chen Yucheng's beast would get jealous or not, that was something Li Miao couldn't possibly know.
But with Erha's test imminent, she had to focus all her attention on the husky.
Unfortunately, without the temptations of energy paste, energy cubes, or canned food, Erha paid absolutely no heed to Chen Yucheng's words.
Chen Yucheng repeatedly tried to coax it onto the testing platform, only to be outright rejected—each time in the most awkward way possible.
Left with no choice, Chen Yucheng turned his gaze to Li Miao.
"So, you're its master?"
Li Miao nodded.
Chen Yucheng studied her briefly before speaking flatly, "Get it onto the testing platform. I need to run a detailed assessment."
"Alright," Li Miao replied. Then, with a single sharp glance, Erha scrambled onto the platform in a panic, as if its tail were on fire.
"Grrr woof woof!"
I'm up here! No extra month of training!
Li Miao raised a brow but didn't respond. Instead, she smiled at Chen Yucheng.
Chen Yucheng fell into deep silence.
At the same time, his own beast, Weiguang, gave him a gentle nudge.
The young man took a deep breath, put on his gloves in a daze, and muttered under his breath, "So jealous… So jealous… damn, I wish I had a beast like that…"
"No, no… my own is fine, my own listens to me…"
"You're the best, Weiguang. Really, you're my angel."
Chen Bin: "..."
He pretended not to hear Chen Yucheng's musings and quietly made himself as unobtrusive as possible.
Li Miao also feigned deafness, but as the beast's master, she still had to stay alert throughout the test.
Once the wires were connected to Erha, she saw it close its eyes—was it falling asleep standing up?
No.
That wasn't it.
It wasn't sleeping—the test had begun.
Its body trembled intermittently, every muscle responding to the wired stimuli, simulating movement, attacks, and defensive postures. The most crucial wires were attached to its temples, meaning the beast couldn't be disturbed during the test.
As each assessment concluded, Chen Yucheng quickly compiled Erha's base stats.
"Speed: 50, Constitution: 80, Attack: 40, Defense: 70."
Staring at these numbers, Chen Yucheng couldn't hold back a sharp inhale.
"These stats are nearly on par with a fifth-level beast!"
"A prodigy! This is absolutely a prodigy!"
The young man's eyes gleamed with excitement. The way he looked at Erha was like a starving dog eyeing a juicy piece of meat—his expression positively dripping with longing.
"With a foundation like this, it could easily become a future Saint-level beast!"
Side note:
Currently, beast levels were divided into six tiers: 1-20 were Beginner beasts, 21-40 were Intermediate, 41-60 were Advanced, 61-80 were Super, 81-100 were Saint-level, and anything beyond 100 was classified as a Divine-level beast master.
But the truth was, most beast masters could never elevate their beasts to Saint-level in their lifetime, let alone Divine-level.
Once a beast reached Saint or Divine-level, society would allocate vast resources to them.
Take Xu Lifei, the most formidable beast master alive today—he was a prime example.
Yet beasts that ascended to those heights were vanishingly rare.
For instance, in Hua Nation alone, despite its population of 1.4 billion, only five beast masters had beasts in the Divine tier, which in turn elevated their own status. Meanwhile, just over two thousand beasts had reached Saint-level, serving as critical protectors and stabilizing forces for the nation's safety.
All these beast masters had one thing in common: they'd contracted prodigies.
Li Miao was one of them.
But she was luckier than most—her very first beast was this extraordinary.
Chen Yucheng couldn't help feeling a twinge of envy. With a beast like this, as long as its master didn't do anything reckless and focused on steady training, it was guaranteed a future position among the elite.
…Wait a minute!
Chen Yucheng rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then stared hard at Erha's rank.
"Bronze?!"
"How is that possible!?"
His voice rose in shock, "With stats this high, how can it be a Bronze-rank beast!?"
Erha: ?
What's wrong with Bronze rank?
Did Bronze rank dig up your ancestors' graves or steal your rice?
It was born gorgeous, born powerful, born a genius!
Erha thought as much and promptly howled its indignation.
Li Miao picked at her ear, pretending not to hear the dog's impassioned outcry—nor did she try to argue further.
After all, the fact that she could boost Erha's stats was best kept secret.
Still, she wanted to ask—
"Can't Bronze-rank beasts have stats like this?"
Chen Yucheng frowned.
"Well… not impossible, but… I've never seen it before."
"Never?"
Li Miao's eyes brightened. "So it has happened before?"
"No."
Chen Yucheng shook his head, regaining his composure. "I mean, no one's ever seen this before."
"But if I had to guess, your beast might just naturally be this strong."
"If possible, I'd recommend improving its rank… no, actually—"
He paced in place, muttering, "Better yet, let me take it. I'll upgrade it to Silver rank…"
"No, no—I'm not a breeder, I shouldn't interfere…"
"But… can Bronze-rank stats really be this high?"
"Under normal circumstances, beasts that start with stats above 50 are almost always Gold-rank."
And yet, almost no newbie contracted Gold-rank beasts.
First, because a human body could barely handle the spiritual feedback from a Gold-rank beast.
Second, Gold-rank beasts were far prouder than their lower-ranked counterparts—not to mention anything beyond Gold.
But now, Erha—a Bronze-rank beast—had stats comparable to a Gold-rank, making it impossible not to question if its rank was mislabeled.
Seeing Chen Yucheng lost in bewilderment, Li Miao piped up, "Um… is my beast free to go now?"
Erha had long since woken up.
But with all the wires still attached, it could only lie there lazily, rolling its eyes.
Snapping out of it, Chen Yucheng quickly handed Li Miao the test results, then carefully began removing the wires—his expression and movements downright reverent, as though handling an invaluable treasure.
Erha: "..."
What're you staring at!?
The husky glared sidelong, its gaze full of disdain.
"Grrr woof!"
Keep staring and I will bite you! Humph!
Chen Bin: "…Impressive."
That expression made his fists itch.
Unaware of the silent exchange between Erha and Chen Yucheng, Li Miao glanced down at the results.
She noticed the numbers nearly matched what she'd seen with her Insight Eye—except for an extra line she didn't understand.
"Instructor, can you tell me what this means?"
She blinked at Chen Bin.
Chen Bin glanced at the sheet—
"…Ten stars?!"
"TEN STARS!?"
He was floored.