Li Pu's gaze turned towards his opponent, finally taking a proper look.
The young man across from him was neither too tall nor too short, with a lean build.
He had quite an attractive face, although still a far cry from Li Pu himself.
This Summoner of the Rolling Turtle was named Wu Guinan.
Honestly, seeing Li Pu step onto the stage, Wu Guinan was a bit nervous.
"Uh, are you going up, or is your summon beast going up?"
It was apparent that the experience from the previous day was still fresh in his memory.
This guy, who could kick over a Rolling Turtle with one swipe, was definitely not someone to mess with.
He felt that even if he combined his strength with that of the Rolling Turtle, they might not stand a chance against Li Pu alone.
In fact, he had already decided that if Li Pu insisted on stepping in personally, he would immediately concede the match.
Although in real combat, the Summoner is also a crucial component.
In most cases, directly attacking the Summoner is often more effective than attacking the summon beast.
However, since they were all still freshmen and hadn't learned Summoner skills, it was implicitly understood that the matches would be summon beast VS summon beast only.
"I won't go up."
Fortunately, Li Pu shook his head, allowing Wu Guinan to breathe a sigh of relief.
He intended to use this opportunity to let his scarecrow get some practice; if he went up himself, it wouldn't be as meaningful.
"Alright, let's get ready to go on stage then."
Feeling relieved, Wu Guinan regained his enthusiasm.
With the lack of combat experience among the freshmen and the unfamiliarity with telepathy, they sometimes couldn't make the correct command immediately, so they would first brief their core strategies to their summon beasts before stepping onto the stage.
Especially with Wu Guinan's Rolling Turtle, communication issues were quite noticeable.
"Rolling Turtle, remember to listen closely for my instructions later on."
The Rolling Turtle seemed unsure if it understood, raising its head to emit a low growl at Wu Guinan.
[Roll!]
"And also, that scarecrow looks a bit more agile than you."
[Roll!]
"When you start the big rolling move, don't rush in and hit it directly."
[Rolling?]
"Circle the arena a few times to build up speed, then attack."
"But remember to hold back, don't accidentally hurt anyone."
[Roll!]
After a combination of words and gestures, Wu Guinan, feeling the other party should understand, wiped the sweat off his forehead in exhaustion.
"Your summon beast seems to have quite a temper."
Li Pu stood with arms folded, watching the entire process.
"Hmm? Aren't you going to brief your summon beast?"
Wu Guinan looked at Li Pu and then at the nearby daydreaming scarecrow.
"Is there a procedure for this?"
Li Pu was momentarily taken aback.
Then he considered it for a moment and moved over to the scarecrow, patting its shoulder sternly and caringly.
"Take care of yourself."
[Grass!]
The scarecrow raised both hands joyfully, indicating it understood.
Wu Guinan: "..."
My friend, is this your idea of briefing tactics?
It sounds more like you're advising it to turn over a new leaf, doesn't it?
Also, your summon beast seems to have an even worse temper!
In reality, Li Pu had nothing special to advise because he seemed to have an innate talent in this area.
He had discovered upon successfully summoning yesterday that his telepathy with the scarecrow was extremely fluent, allowing him to issue commands from off-stage with no difficulty.
Moreover, he had just specifically searched for information on summon beast attribute restraints in the library.
There was a natural restraint between the scarecrow and the Rolling Turtle.
Here, "attributes" did not refer to actual physical compositions of the summon beasts.
Instead, the attributes in a summon beast's panel were more akin to the beast's own energy field or force field.
If there was a restrictive relationship between two fields, the disadvantaged party would experience a certain degree of weakening.
Therefore, attribute restraints were an important factor affecting the outcome of battles.
Moreover, attribute restraints were not necessarily singular; they could be multi-directional.
For example, attributes that restrain wood are fire, metal, etc.
Likewise, wood primarily restrains earth, wind, and so forth.
10 wood restrains 10 earth, weakening the weaker party by about twenty percent.
10 wood restrains 10 wind, weakening the weaker party by about thirty percent.
The scarecrow is 10 wood, the Rolling Turtle is 7 earth and 3 water.
7 wood restrains 7 earth, weakening by about fifteen percent.
Although Li Pu didn't know the Rolling Turtle's precise attributes, he believed that the scarecrow had a good chance of standing its ground against it.
As the two Summoners stepped off the stage, they approached the side.
There was a simple machine there, which Wu Guinan skillfully operated by pressing a few buttons, causing the edges of the stage to start emitting light.
Buzz!
With a beep, a barrier of blue light formed an enclosed screen above the square stage.
Seconds later, the stable screen turned colorless and transparent.
Curiously, Li Pu extended his hand and knocked on it with his knuckles a couple of times.
Knock, knock.
Judging by the sound and feel, it seemed very solid.
It did not, however, block sound, as Wu Guinan began cheering through the light screen.
"Rolling Turtle, go get 'em!"
[Roll!]
Everyone: "..."
The communication between this summon pair still left everyone feeling unaccustomed.
However, Li Pu didn't mind, as he was currently issuing commands through telepathy.
Li Pu: Take it down.
[Grass~]
The scarecrow received the order and immediately let out a cheer.
Its move towards the Rolling Turtle signaled the start of the battle.
The audience's attention instantly shifted to the unfolding conflict.
The scarecrow, having received the command, charged straight at the Rolling Turtle.
"Wow, the scarecrow's actions seem more agile than they appear."
"That Mountain Rock Turtle might be in trouble."
"That's right, the scarecrow probably has some attribute restraint over the Mountain Rock Turtle."
The swift action caught the audience by slight surprise.
[Grass!]
However, the result of the scarecrow's punches and kicks was somewhat unexpected.
The scarecrow unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks at the Rolling Turtle, yet the damage was barely noticeable with the naked eye.
Firstly, the turtle's shell was indeed sturdy against summon beasts of this level. Secondly, the scarecrow's foundation was inherently weak.
The combination of these two factors meant that even with an attribute advantage, it couldn't deal any effective blows.
[Rolling?]
Clearly, the Rolling Turtle itself was startled by its own immovability.
After all, it could sense it — the soft grass fists landing on its body carried an unavoidable sense of being restrained.
It even got a bit frightened and prematurely withdrew into its shell.
The result... Well, was that it?
[Roll!]
Thus, it emerged from its shell again, raising its heavy forepaw to swat at the scarecrow.
Bam!
Yet, it missed.
The move merely stirred up dust on the stage surface and created a reverberation.
[Grass!]
This time, the scarecrow didn't even need to wait for Li Pu's command, swiftly dodging away on its own.
It moved even faster and more nimbly than when it was attacking.
The scarecrow's combat instincts might be questionable, but its survival instinct was notably strong.
"Rolling Turtle, use the big roll!"
At this point, Wu Guinan finally remembered to issue a command to his summon beast.
...
...