bookpub Chapter 29: Senior Year Chicken Soup, Dream Chapter: A Sea of Bitterness! Pain, so much pain!
Chapter 29: Senior Year Chicken Soup, Dream Chapter: A Sea of Bitterness! Pain, so much pain!
After writing down the two names, Zhou Guoqiang put down his pen, placed his hands on the podium, and spoke with a more serious tone.
"Those who don't have a beast taming skill don't need to worry."
"From the current policy perspective, firstly, the college entrance examination does not require candidates to bring their own beasts; it is not a mandatory option, but an optional one."
"Secondly, the new clauses mainly target the scoring standards for candidates who 'bring beasts to participate in practical assessments.' Judging from these clauses, it will be extremely difficult to get high scores relying on beast taming!!!"
He opened the document and read a few lines:
"First, the tamed beasts must be at least six-star tamed and have a taming certification from a formal institution. Those that are not at least six-star tamed are not allowed to be brought into the examination room."
"Secondly, during the practical assessment, the performance of the Master and Beast in coordinated combat will be scored separately. If the Beast's performance is significantly stronger than the Master's, or if the Master relies excessively on the Beast in battle, the score will be significantly lowered."
"Third, the strength level of a beast tamer can only be at the peak of the Battle General level at most. Normally, the strength of a high school senior during the college entrance examination is only at the peak of the Acupoint Opening Realm. However, we humans have the strength to fight against opponents of higher levels in the early stages, so setting this standard is normal."
"Fourth, the number of actual combat kills by the Beast Tamers..."
"fifth......"
After reading these points, Zhou Qingguo put down the document and looked at the whole class.
"As you've probably already figured out, the purpose of these rules is to prevent people from using their pets to rack up points!"
"To forge iron, one must always be strong oneself."
"The college entrance exam always needs geniuses!"
"If you could be like Jiang Wei, fusing with spirit orbs and mastering spirit techniques by the first semester of your senior year, would the nine top universities really reject you just because you don't have beast taming skills?"
Upon hearing this, many people in the class visibly relaxed.
Zhou Qingguo did not stop there; instead, his tone became even more serious.
"However, we shouldn't be too optimistic."
"This is, after all, a new rule for the college entrance examination. It's impossible to say that it has no impact at all, and it's even more impossible for those who choose to adapt to the new rule to suffer losses."
"You need to understand one thing: the college entrance examination is never about selecting people who are good at taking exams, but about selecting people who can adapt to the times!"
"Over the past thirty years, the martial arts college entrance examination has undergone numerous reforms, both large and small. The Spirit Pearl theory, spiritual affinity, firearms use... which of these didn't start from scratch? Which of these wasn't highly controversial?"
"But what happens in the end? Those who adapt rise to the top, while those who don't are eliminated."
"Survival of the fittest!"
"Excellent individuals should excel in every aspect!"
"Now that we've added the Beast Taming category, it's simply another assessment criterion, and it's an optional one at that."
Zhou Qingguo paused, his gaze sweeping across the faces of every single person in the class.
"Times are always changing!"
"If we humans want to break out of this crisis, we must keep making changes."
"Think about it, why do we need to reform like this this time? What is the root cause?"
The classroom was silent for a few seconds; no one answered.
Zhou Qingguo continued, "Because the world is changing!"
His voice wasn't loud, but every word he spoke was firm and resounding.
Su Chen, sitting in the audience, looked at the homeroom teacher's figure as if he were seeing a dozen or so overlapping images.
and many more!
I finally managed to escape from this sea of suffering.
Why... are you back again?
pain!It hurts so much!
He drank too much of this chicken soup in his past life!
He thought he was tired of drinking it, or even had developed an immunity to it.
Why do I still feel so excited listening to it now?
Because... am I a beneficiary of the existing system?
Oh, that's okay.
If you don't have a beast tamer, no cheat codes, and no money at home, then you should definitely be worried.
........
On stage, Teacher Zhou continued, "Forty-two years ago, the apocalypse struck, and the global population plummeted by 80%. China was the first to mobilize the entire nation and rise from the ruins. We were the first to recover and even had the capacity to provide assistance to other countries and regions."
"Our overall strength undoubtedly places us at the top of the world!"
"But...."
He changed the subject, his tone becoming more serious.
"They are not a bunch of mediocre people outside of China."
"Especially in Europe, their development of beast-taming technology has surpassed ours."
"You might not know this, but several top universities in Europe already included 'Beast Taming Cooperative Combat' as a core course more than twenty years ago!"
"They start guiding students to raise pet beasts from junior high school, and by the time they get to university, almost everyone has a beast companion of at least the level of a warrior general."
"In several joint operations, the beast tamers of the European teams played a crucial role. A loyal and well-trained beast tamer not only significantly improved combat efficiency but could also shield its master from a fatal blow at critical moments, directly reducing the mortality rate by more than 70%!!!"
"What does this mean?"
Zhou Qingguo rested his hands on the podium.
"You learned in your textbooks about the mortality rate of the Chinese military and civilians in the early stages of the apocalypse. If we had a mature beast-taming system back then, how many fewer people could have died!?"
"Currently, it seems that we have fallen behind in terms of technological expertise in this area."
"Of course, this is also related to our enemies."
"Because of its performance in the early stages of the apocalypse, the Huaxia Federation has been targeted by many higher-dimensional beings. The demons within its borders are all backed by evil gods and demon gods. Our investment in beast taming technology has been constrained by various factors."
"But this precisely illustrates a point: our enemies are also evolving. If we remain stagnant, we are simply waiting to die!!!"
"Where is the breakthrough point for our beast-taming technology?"
Zhou Qingguo turned around and wrote four large characters on the blackboard:
[Beast Taming]
He put down the chalk and turned around.
"Do you think that beast taming is only for fighting?"
"Where do the exotic beast meat you eat, the spiritual medicine soup you drink, the spiritual artifacts you use, the elixirs you cultivate... all these things come from?"
"Relying solely on mining? Relying solely on hunting monsters?"
"No!"
"The vast majority of extraordinary resources come from a systematic industry of taming alien beasts."
"A Netherworld Tiger, its claws can be made into offensive magical weapons, every part of its body is a treasure!"
"You've all eaten scrambled eggs, right? And eggs are the cheapest cultivation resource!"
"These are all industries!"
"These are all real productive forces."
"And we Chinese, in this field, are far from reaching our ceiling."
Zhou Qingguo's tone softened, as if he were giving directions to a group of confused children.
Why am I saying all this?
"Because the college entrance examination reform isn't just about giving you another scoring option. It sends a signal: the Federation needs more people who understand beast taming, know how to tame beasts, and can deal with exotic beasts!"
"This kind of talent can not only go to the front line of combat, but also to the front line of industry."
"On the battlefield, they are soldiers. In factories, they are engineers. In research institutes, they are scientists."
"This is the real purpose of this reform!"
He paused for two seconds, his gaze sweeping across the entire class.
"You are all young people, the future of the Federation! What you need to do is not complain about the unfairness of the rules, but adapt to the new rules as soon as possible and find your place in them."
"It's that simple."
The classroom was silent for several seconds.
No one speaks.
Then, Zhou Qingguo picked up the document, his tone returning to its usual calm.
"Alright, that's all for now. The school will announce the specific implementation details tonight."
"A special information session will be organized at that time, and students who are interested can register to attend."
"Meeting adjourned!"
Zhou Qingguo gathered the documents, shoved them onto the table, and only looked up after arranging them neatly.
His gaze swept across the classroom, and he said, "Jiang Wei, Su Chen, Chen Xue, the three of you come to my office."
Su Chen, who was just about to go to the track with Wang Yichuan, paused.
He looked up at the podium, and Teacher Zhou was giving him a slight nod.
Su Chen thought to himself: The fact that they're calling the three of us means it's probably related to beast taming.
After all, he and Chen Xue were the only two pet animals in the whole class, and although Jiang Wei didn't have one, as the top student in the grade, she was bound to be involved in this kind of thing.
He turned around and patted Wang Yichuan on the shoulder: "Want to run later?"
"Okay! I'll go warm up first." Wang Yichuan said, stretching his shoulders before walking out of the classroom.
"Um."
Su Chen quickly followed the backs of the two people in front of him, walked through the corridor, and turned into the teachers' office area.