Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 893 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - Order

The mantisʼs physical form converted back to pure energy. The beast code flowed back along the bond connection to Renʼs mana core. The manifestation ended cleanly without the jarring disruption that came from forced bond severance through excessive damage.

Ren felt the feedback through their connection. Some exhaustion and channels strained from excessive mana cycling.

Master Yang raised his hand to signal the result officially. ”First partial victory: Team Luna!”

The audience erupted in applause and excited conversations about the exchange they had witnessed. It had been a confrontation that had oscillated between the combatants multiple times, with momentum shifting back and forth as each side revealed cards and counter-cards.

And the final twist where Min had revealed the capacity to manipulate temperature had been a moment that nobody would forget any time soon. Two ice-capable tamers in the same generation. Statistical improbability that scholars would be analyzing for years.

The volume of conversation in the stands was deafening.

Ren observed the Amphibian still on the field while considering options for the next combatant.

The creature was certainly tired, had spent considerable resources on its cold technique and in executing multiple explosions. But it wasnʼt nearly as exhausted as the mantis had been. Gold-rank reserves provided depth allowing it to absorb losses that would have incapacitated a lower-rank beast. And more importantly, it had barely received any direct damage throughout the entire exchange.

Maybe 5-8% of its total durability was compromised through minor burns and superficial wood-element damage before the cold technique cleared the plant invasion. Nothing it couldnʼt heal in a second. Just tired and depleted but fundamentally intact.

Ren needed to decide which of his two remaining beasts he would send against the amphibian.

As he had been supposing during previous planning, the hydra should be saved because he still didnʼt know when Luna would deploy her wolf. That confrontation would be critical and would require having a beast with specific elemental advantage available, particularly the enhanced capacity to use light to counteract the wolfʼs inclination toward darkness and good resistance.

Light versus darkness wasnʼt an absolute counter like water versus fire. But it was a meaningful advantage. Which meant his wolverine would enter first against the amphibian.

And thanks to the mantisʼs efforts in reducing the temperature with the last-moment fire attacks, it wouldnʼt be terribly difficult for the beast with considerably superior elemental control to finish an amphibian with low mana reserves.

The melted zones the mantis had created would allow immediate plant growth without needing to overcome frozen soil conditions first. The amphibianʼs cold generation capability had been demonstrated, which meant it could be countered rather than surprising the wolverine. The explosive defenses were known and could be adapted to. The energy reserves were depleted to levels where extended combat would favor the fresh opponent.

Easy mode…

Ren activated his second bond and allowed the wolverine to manifest in the arena.

The creature materialized with the same presence it had on the semifinal communicating power over the elements.

It was the difference between level 3 and 6 of cultivation. A gap of 3 levels… The disparity that became obvious in direct comparison when both beasts belonged to the same tamer and shared buffs and similar training methodologies.

Basically better in every stat, but more important than raw physical stats was the mana capacity and control sophistication.

The Jade Wolverineʼs mana reserves were already big for the rare variant and around the same in ʼmana pointsʼ but more than double what the Amphibian currently had available if taking into account all efficiency related buffs. More than 20 times what the Mantis had possessed at full capacity.

The amphibianʼs control efficiency was solid for Gold 1 but not too exceptional if taking the double tamerʼs extra buffs out.

The gap in both capacity and efficiency meant the Wolverine could accomplish more with less expenditure while having deeper reserves to draw from. Overwhelming advantage that numbers alone couldnʼt fully capture…

It evaluated the field in an instant with senses processing elemental information on multiple levels simultaneously.

Temperature distribution, soil moisture and frozen colder areas.

Residual mana signatures if the amphibianʼs water and cold essence still dominant but fading. Mantisʼs wood and fire traces scattered throughout. Minʼs mana imprint on the entire battlefield from his last technique usage.

Available resources were abundant water, moderate organic material from dead frozen plants, ample mineral content in the sand for earth manipulation.

Conditions favorable for wood-element assault with water and light support. Amphibian vulnerable… Victory within 5 minutes.

And then the Wolverine executed a technique demonstrating exactly why rank disparity mattered so much when both sides shared similar retroactive enhancement bonuses.

Plants surged from the ground on a scale completely eclipsing what the mantis had accomplished.

Not dozens but hundreds of structures sprouting simultaneously from points distributed throughout the complete arena. Not gradual growth that could be interrupted but nearly instantaneous manifestation, with refined elemental control converting the frozen remains and saturated soil into rapid aggressive growth.

The mechanism was fundamentally different from what the mantis had done.

The mantis had operated by imbuing seeds with wood mana and launching them toward targets. The resulting plants had needed continuous energy input to grow aggressively. The entire process had been relatively slow and mana-intensive because the mantis lacked the control to command the element at range efficiently.

The Wolverine simply commanded the element at distance directly, with wood responding to its will with what seemed like absolute obedience.

No launching seeds, no germination delay and no continuous energy input required once the initial structure was established. Just pure elemental manipulation that raised ʼmana plantsʼ from available organic matter and mana without intermediate steps.

And the efficiency was staggering.

Roots grew upward from the ground, reaching toward the amphibianʼs legs and lower body. Much thicker than what the mantis had managed. Harder to destroy and more resilient to explosive counterattacks.

Mantis root diameter more than doubled on average and in structural differences it got approximately 8× greater cross-sectional area, translating to dramatically higher durability.

And these roots werenʼt just larger but also more sophisticated in their construction.