The Thunderbolt Bear was stunned.
Then came anger.
It was already suffering so much—why did another Pokémon have to steal its computer?
"Waaah waaah waaah—!!!" it roared.
The Dream Butterfly didn't even glance its way, just let out a few cries.
"Guu no~! Guu no guu no~!"
Do you know how to build items?
Do you know lane mechanics?
Do you know when to use skills?
Do you know how to call for teammates and set up ambushes?
Do you...
Xiao Die fired off five soul-searing questions.
The Thunderbolt Bear couldn't answer.
The Thunderbolt Bear fell into deep thought.
At that moment,
Xiao Die had already taken control of the revived character and returned to the lane.
Its little hands were too short, struggling a bit to reach the medium-sized keyboard, and it had to use telekinesis to control the mouse.
But...
Two minutes later.
"Thunderbolt Bear 025 has achieved a double kill."
...
"Thunderbolt Bear 025 is on a rampage."
...
"Thunderbolt Bear 025 is unstoppable."
...
A few minutes later, Xiao Die set down the mouse, feeling no sense of accomplishment.
What was on the other side? Bots!
What fun was there in stomping bots?
It thought this Thunderbolt Bear was pretty low-skilled and wanted to fly elsewhere to find some mid-to-high-level matches.
"Roooar, roooar—"
"Guu no?"
"Roooar~!"
The Thunderbolt Bear called out and ran off, then came back with a pile of snacks. "Roooar~!"
"Guu no? (For me?)"
Xiao Die felt that the bears here were all very warm and hospitable, so it sat down to help this Thunderbolt Bear climb the ranks.
Bear King Mountain's network was a local area network, without the massive player base of Dragon Country, but these bears were all bursting with energy and had an incredibly high online rate, enough to scrape together a few matches, maybe a dozen or so.
"Guu no~"
It glanced around.
Then started queuing ranked matches using the Thunderbolt Bear's account.
...
An hour later.
Behind the Thunderbolt Bear's seat, a circle of bears had gathered.
There were Tyrant Bears, Thunderous Growls, Arhat Panda Bears...
The younger Thunderbolt Bear was pushed to the outskirts, and because it wasn't in its final form and was short, it was blocked by a ring of big bears and couldn't see anything.
It felt both wronged and pitiful.
It was first!
"Ehehehe—"
At that moment,
surrounding Xiao Die were...
Bears asking for gameplay tips.
Bears begging to be carried.
Bears acting cute with whines...
Xiao Die shoved them away with a burst of telekinesis.
I'm the cutest one here, guu no~!
...
At the same time,
the eight contestants began to move.
A master-level spirit tamer named Wang Wu swept his gaze across the hall and spotted bear-type spirits sitting in front of computers.
"For contracting a spirit on Bear King Mountain, the second trial is the hardest.
"After completing it, find a spirit to contract... With so many bear cubs here, I can definitely lure one away."
He pondered.
Seeing how focused all the bears were, he felt troubled.
To win votes, he had to earn the favor of the bear spirits.
Even though he didn't like gaming, he knew full well... interrupting someone's game was a surefire way to earn their hatred.
Forget about goodwill.
"The hall has the most bear spirits, but it's actually a trap. If I waste too much time here, I might end up failing..."
As a master-level spirit tamer, Wang Wu was decisive.
He unhesitatingly abandoned the most tempting hall and headed for other areas.
"As long as I get twenty votes, I can take a bear cub home... I have to succeed!"
...
In another part of the hall.
After a quick look around, Wu Hang quickly came up with an idea.
As a proper college student, he definitely had gaming skills.
And he was pretty good!
Especially after his spirit's feedback, his body got better every day, with boundless energy and lightning-fast reflexes.
If only he had more time to game, Wu Hang felt he could easily reach the 'Champion tier' in the Spirit Union.
"I play Spirit Union too, so it'll be easy to bond with these bears.
"Then I'll wow them with my gaming skills!
"This so-called second trial isn't that hard!"
He flashed a confident smile.
Then thought of Su Hao.
As one of the best college students, he didn't think Su Hao would fail this trial.
But...
"As long as I get more votes than him, I win!"
Wu Hang spotted a Muscle Bear whose game had just ended and walked over to pat it.
"Roooar?"
His Flame Butterfly flew over to communicate and translate.
A moment later,
"So that's it, help you beat the enemy team? Easy!"
Wu Hang checked the match history.
The last two games were both losses, and from the data, he noticed a particularly strong bear was carrying the opposing team.
"This Thunderbolt Bear 025 character needs extra attention.
"As long as I shut it down, we're good. Now, it's time to show the spirits of Bear King Mountain the strength of Flame Bird University's top laner!"
Wu Hang quickly picked his spirit and started the match.
Three minutes later...
"Mistake, just a mistake."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I got careless. I'll get serious now!"
Five minutes later...
Wu Hang stared at the 0-2-0 scoreline, his fingers trembling slightly.
Ten minutes later...
His lips were dry, his body leaned forward, eyes wide and fixed on the grayed-out screen.
Fifteen minutes later...
He slumped back in his chair, utterly defeated.
Muttering to himself, "Impossible, impossible, how could this be..."
The Muscle Bear shook its head in disappointment.
Weakling!
With skill barely matching its own, still getting stomped, and yet acting so cocky.
And this guy wanted a vote?
Ha, humans!
"Roooar~!"
It picked Wu Hang up.
The gist of it was: go cool off somewhere else.
Weaklings shouldn't hog the computer.
...
At the same time,
in another area in front of a computer, the Dream Butterfly reluctantly released its telekinesis.
"Guu no~"
It thought the last opponent was pretty good.
Must have been the original bear calling for backup.
Finally, it had a bit of fun.
"Guu no~"
It went back to teaching the bear spirits gaming tips.
...
The midsection of Bear King Mountain could be roughly divided into the internet café zone, living zone, training zone, and cooking zone.
The internet café zone had the most bear spirits, but the eight contestants either found the addicted bears hard to approach or had a completely negative gaming experience, falling into a daze of "Who am I, where am I, did I just play a game?" and left the area one by one.
Su Hao had never gone there from the start.
"Even though my gaming skills are top-notch, gaming is a last resort. I don't need it.
"As the saying goes, to conquer a spirit, you first conquer its stomach!
"The name of me, Su Hao, the Little Chef, will echo across all of Bear King Mountain!"
Su Hao headed for the cooking zone.
The first thing he saw were stoves.
A few Tyrant Bears—wearing white aprons—were standing at the stoves, fiddling with something.
One of them even had a tall white chef's hat on its head.
It noticed Su Hao, let out a roar to the other Tyrant Bears, and turned to look at him.
"Human, want a vote?
"I've put the ingredients over there. If you want a vote, it depends on your skill."