A Genius Cultivator Arrives at the Arena

Zhong Yi’s Illusion Realm.

Not long ago, Zhong Yi had boldly declared that he would push the story forward, clear the paths to the seven Tower Lords, and enter the World Tree to see what lay within.

In the end, he failed to keep his promise.

That was how open-world games tended to be. Players often got distracted by something else halfway through whatever they had originally set out to do.

Zhong Yi’s plan to tackle the Tower Lords ended in the desert.

That was because, to the southeast of the desert, he discovered a small, isolated island.

There was a tower on the island as well, one that seemed to stretch into the clouds. Zhong Yi initially assumed it was yet another tower that needed to be conquered.

But after making the trip, he learned that it was actually a place called the Arena.

He soon became completely absorbed in its new gameplay.

After Lu Ze’s improvements, the Arena’s PvP battles supported matches between players from different worlds.

It was rather like Trainer battles in Pokémon in his previous life, adding another layer of fun to the game.

Inside the Arena, Pal Spheres could not be used to recall or deploy Pals to evade damage. Instead, players selected three Pals from a team of five to battle their opponents.

First, they had to predict their opponent’s lineup.

Second, they had to properly coordinate their own Pals, skills, and traits.

Third, their Pals’ level of development would be put to the test.

Of course, in this world’s Illusion Realm, the rapport between players and their Pals was also a factor.

Overall, strategy played a fairly significant role in Arena battles.

That instantly ignited Zhong Yi’s interest. For several days in a row, he studied how to put together powerful lineups capable of countering his enemies’ combinations.

The NPC opponents in the Arena were generally very high-level, so at this stage, players preferred PvP.

With all sorts of novel team combinations, Zhong Yi quickly made a name for himself among the PvP players.

“Carry him out! Next!”

Zhong Yi easily defeated an unfamiliar player, climbing another rank higher. He was positively glowing with pride.

Lu Ze had made quite a few changes to the Arena’s PvP mode.

In addition to allowing players from different worlds to be matched against one another, it also featured various limited-time events.

For example, the Arena Champion Challenge and the Bounty Tournament.

The event Zhong Yi was participating in now was a thousand-player Bounty Tournament.

The champion would receive a rare mutated egg, a random golden blueprint, and a Pal skill book. At the current stage of the game, that reward was incredibly tempting.

The roster had filled up almost instantly.

Relying on various powerful combinations, Zhong Yi had won five matches in a row, washing away his former reputation as a hopeless klutz who could never win an Arena battle. He was indescribably proud of himself.

“Let’s see who my next opponent is… Oh? Isn’t that Lao Zhou?”

Zhong Yi immediately broke into a grin.

The match had yet to begin, but the two had already started exchanging friendly banter.

“Damn, Lao Zhong, you actually made it this far? You must’ve been talking less than usual!”

“Heh. Lao Zhou, with your luck, making it this far means even the heavens felt sorry for you and decided to let you off.”

The two of them looked at each other with fake smiles, both faces practically screaming, “smiling with a knife hidden behind the smile.”

“Show Lao Zhou a little respect!”

Zhong Yi flashed an insidious grin before swiftly selecting his three combat Pals: Sea Dragon, Lotuswater Dragon, and Voltneedle.

Player-versus-player matches were always among the most popular segments. At that moment, Zhong Yi’s livestream was drawing a tremendous audience, and the chat exploded with surprise at his choices.

[Where did that Lotuswater Dragon and Voltneedle come from? I’ve never seen either of them before!]

[Where else could they have come from? He bred them, obviously… You have no idea what it was like entering Zhong’s stream over the past two days and seeing nothing but him and Pal eggs scattered all over the ground.]

[As expected of Zhong—the man never uses the same lineup twice in six matches.]

[It looks like it relies on mechanical skill, but it’s actually all about brains. He’s entered Zhong’s comfort zone.]

[I understand everything else, but why isn’t one of the main combat Pals the Lotuswater Dragon or Sea Dragon? Why is it that Voltneedle, which looks so ordinary?]

[True Disciple Zhou’s main Pal is Typhoon Edge. Its combat power is no joke!]

…

“Damn it, Lao Zhong! What kind of things are you bringing? I’ve never even seen them before!”

Zhou Yue had to admit that seeing the Pals standing behind Zhong Yi made him feel just a little uneasy.

A Pal’s bloodline quality could be judged to some extent from its appearance.

That pink dragon Pal, whose body resembled flower petals, was clearly no ordinary creature.

“Heh. What’s wrong, Lao Zhou? Lost your nerve? Don’t dare to run your full-fire team anymore?”

Zhong Yi teased him with a laugh.

Zhou Yue’s Pal lineup had been taught to him by Zhong Yi, so Zhong Yi naturally knew all his tricks.

His main Pal had been Danfeng, with the Flame Ram that had always accompanied Zhou Yue serving as backup, while Fireling provided an attack boost to fire-type Pals.

The strategy was simple: use an all-fire lineup and overwhelm the opponent with raw stats.

Now that his main Pal had been replaced by the inferior Typhoon Edge, and the other two by Anubis and Thunderwing Bird, these were the strongest Pals Zhou Yue could field outside the fire attribute, at least in terms of development.

“I knew you’d use water types to counter me… Heh. Let me tell you, my Anubis and Thunderwing Bird are highly developed too. I can crush you with ease!”

Zhou Yue was brimming with confidence.

“Oh~? Crush me~ with~ ease~?”

Zhong Yi deliberately mimicked Zhou Yue’s tone, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You bastard—!”

The corner of Zhou Yue’s mouth twitched. Before he could continue the trash talk, the Arena’s battle signal rang out.

“Go, Danfeng! Use Rock Blast and Sandstorm!”

Zhou Yue took the initiative and attacked first.

At his command, Typhoon Edge, as massive as a small mountain, instantly gathered a ball of rock-element energy.

The ground beneath Zhong Yi’s feet collapsed, while countless sand tornadoes whipped up around him, causing visibility to plummet.

The sight was far more spectacular than the battles Lu Ze had experienced in his previous life.

Unlike the previous life’s Palworld, where Pals essentially relied on AI to fight like crickets in a jar, battles in this Illusion Realm offered tremendous freedom and realism. The variables between players were endless, and the ceiling for skillful play was much higher.

Players only had to issue commands to their Pals, leaving the actual execution to them. That meant Zhong Yi, who had always been hopeless with his hands, suddenly found himself thriving in the Arena.

“Heh, Lao Zhou, do you think I chose these three Pals just to counter your full-fire team?”

Zhong Yi’s voice drifted out from within the thick curtain of sand.

“Let me remind you: you know Sea Dragon’s racial talent. It deals increased damage to enemies in the Soaked state…”

“Now let me tell you something you don’t know.”

“Lotuswater Dragon’s passive ability causes my attacks to inflict the Soaked effect…”

“Voltneedle’s active skill makes my attacks carry the lightning element while increasing my attack power by thirty percent.”

Zhong Yi’s trademark explanation reached Zhou Yue’s ears, and the latter instantly understood his plan.

He was going to trigger elemental reactions!

In the world of Pals, different attributes countered one another, and damage from different elements produced special effects.

For example, lightning damage dealt increased damage to enemies in the Soaked state, while water damage dealt increased damage to enemies afflicted with Shock.

According to Zhong Yi’s explanation, all three of the Pals he had chosen existed to support water- and lightning-based status effects!

Zhou Yue suddenly understood.

No wonder Zhong Yi had chosen Voltneedle as his main combat Pal, despite it being obviously weaker than the other two. Its Partner Skill was the core of his offensive strategy!

“No… Taifeng, enter Iron Guardian mode! Thunderbird and Anubis, scatter!”

Zhou Yue reacted swiftly, but it was already too late.

A rushing column of water violently tore through the smoke, sweeping up all three Palu just as they were about to charge!