"Your physical fitness test is long-distance running. Endurance and escape skills are the most important qualities of a Pet Tamer. Everyone, come and collect a number plate, and the two classes will run together.
"Six kilometers within half an hour means fifteen laps, and that's the average standard. For every additional lap, one point will be added. However, you can't walk or stop, or else there will be no point increment."
The physical education teacher, Liu, said while looking at the crowd, "Now, come and get your number plate. Don't think about secretly exchanging your number plate with someone else. My White-billed Eagle will be watching you with hawk's eyes from the sky, so know your limits.
"Your pets can run with you, but no points will be added. It's best to let them wait at the side."
Soon, the number plates were issued. Sixty students stood at the starting line in a dense pile.
On the stage beside the stand, more than sixty pets—cute, mighty, handsome, or terrifying—peacefully stood together as they watched their Pet Tamers with eyes full of anticipation.
"Three, two, one—go!"
Following the blow of the trumpet, the group of students started running. Some sprinted at a speed of one hundred meters, while others just jogged. Because of the different speeds, the team quickly became divided into ten echelons.
Su Bai, Yang Zhou, Chen Rouxue, and the others were neither fast nor slow and just hung in the middle. They kept up a good pace and completed fifteen laps for six kilometers in half an hour, meaning that each lap took them two minutes.
A lap of four hundred meters meant two hundred meters per minute. This standard was only slightly worse than the beginner level of amateur athletes and was already very difficult for Pet Tamers.
Since their pets were still weak, they had not received much external support, and their physical fitness depended solely on their usual amount of training.
"Huff, huff… F*ck, I thought the pet test was the most difficult, but the Pet Tamer test turned out to be the hardest!"
Yang Zhou groaned while running. Although he was sturdy and broad, he was not well-trained and relied solely on his slightly better physical fitness. Hence, the long-distance running was still considered difficult for him.
"Stop talking; just run!" shouted Su Bai. He shut up himself and continued running. This was not easy for him, either.
Gradually, while many maintained a very fast pace in the first two or three laps, they slowed down after five laps. Eventually, Su Bai and the others overtook them.
The ones ahead of the pack were Guo Dong and a few others. Although their studies were not good, they excelled in sports. They had probably exercised a lot after obtaining their pets. In fact, Guo Dong had surpassed the second place by more than half a lap since the start and seemed to have the energy to accelerate.
Su Bai could actually run faster, for he usually exercised as if his life depended on it, and with the back-feeding power of the cub as a wood spirit, his endurance had improved tremendously.
However, he did not speed up in order to wait for Chen Rouxue and the others.
"You and Yang Zhou go ahead. We're going to slow down a bit; we're fine with just passing."
At this point, Chen Rouxue suddenly shook her head while she panted.
"It's alright; I've already entered the top class, so there's no need to run so fast." He shook his head. With his current speed, it was completely possible to run fifteen laps within the specified time. He was just too lazy to go all out since there was no reward.
"Haha! I think so, too. There's no money for the first place, so what's the point?" The girl laughed.
Yang Zhou was speechless.
He sped up silently.
"Su Bai, this time, I'll be number one!" Guo Dong suddenly rushed over from behind, having surpassed them by a round.
"Congrats! I won't be competing with you." He glanced at the boy, wondering why the latter could not get along with him. Was he too handsome?
"Hmph! It's not like you can beat me."
Guo Dong merely snorted and sped up, feeling that he had punched a dull and tasteless cotton candy.
On the tenth lap, some people, who had exhausted their energies by then, grew slower and slower.
On the twelfth lap, some people started walking and could not run any longer. Meanwhile, Guo Dong had already run fifteen laps and was already starting to run extra rounds for more points.
"Ah, let's sprint!"
Upon seeing that there were more than one hundred meters left to the end, Su Bai urged the others.
"Sprint!"
With the last spurt of energy, they rushed over.
"Twenty-nine minutes. You pass," announced the physical education teacher.
"Ah, I'm exhausted!"
They directly walked over and lay down on the central football field, their hands and legs sprawled motionlessly.
"Howl!"
Purple Jade ran over, radiating soft wood spiritual power, and nudged its owner's body.
"Ah, it feels so good! Give them some, too!"
Su Bai got up.
"Howl! ( ̄^ ̄)"
Glancing at the others, the cub nudged them with wood spiritual power.
Nourished by the wood spiritual power, the others quickly sat up as they felt their body aches greatly ebb.
"Thank you, Purple Jade. Having a wood pet is so good. I'll have to raise a cute little pet like you, too." Chen Rouxue praised it.
"Your pet is too good, and it turns me on." Jiang Yang was intoxicated by the healing element of the wood spiritual power.
The next moment, the wood spiritual power on his body was cut off, and the soreness slowly hit him again.
"Ah, cute, little baby, I was wrong. I shouldn't have said that." The androgynous boy quickly admitted his wrong in a high-pitched girl voice.
"Howl! ー( ̄~ ̄)ξ"
The cub ignored it.
He turned to look at Su Bai, who put his hands up and shrugged.
"…"
Turning to look at his Small Pangolin, he regretted not choosing a wood-earth dual elemental pet.
"Roar!"
His pet glanced at him and jumped onto his lap.
"Ahh!"
Jiang Yang yelled as the fifty kilograms of Small Pangolin pressed onto his sore thigh.
"Time's up!" hollered the physical education teacher. More than twenty people had failed.
Most incredibly, Guo Dong received five more points. In thirty minutes, he had run a total of twenty laps.
Su Bai looked over and saw about twenty people lying on the track, all of them having failed the test.
This was actually quite a normal situation. Even with pets helping them, it was difficult for Pet Tamers to pass this test, especially if they did not make an effort to strengthen their physiques.
Obviously, the people on the tracks belonged to this group.
Of course, they still had points despite failing, but it would create a big gap from the others.
"Okay, the scores have been tabulated. You can all return to your classrooms."
The physical education teacher announced the end of their tests and ushered in the other classes.
Exhausted, the students returned to their respective classrooms and slumped onto their tables.
"Hey, who do you think will be first place in the exam this time?"
After catching their breaths, a heated discussion started in Su Bai's classroom.
"Who knows? It might be the guy with the sliding shovel who attacked the Stone-ice Blizzard Furbolg!"
"Yeah, right. Let's be serious. Although I'm not sure, I think Guo Dong has very high chances of becoming first."
"Then what about Su Bai?"
"He performed satisfactorily in the physical fitness test and got a lot of points in the activity. Su Bai, isn't that right?"
The youth glanced at his classmates and shrugged. "I don't care. I feel that Guo Dong deserves to be first."
Guo Dong: "…"
He swallowed back the words in his throat. Was he not supposed to be angry? What was he playing at?