Beast Taming: Starting from Transmigration and Starting with a Cheat Code

Qin Ming and Sun Yi arrived together at the "Array Training Hall," a side hall dedicated to the Array Academy.

This is not an open-air martial arts arena, but an extremely spacious, incredibly tall circular hall.

Above the dome, an intricate star array slowly rotated, casting a soft yet bright light. The hall floor was paved with a dark-colored energy-absorbing stone, engraved with countless basic array patterns.

The surrounding walls are not solid, but are made of light screens with adjustable transparency that can project array structures in real time.

In the center of the hall, two semi-transparent oval operating platforms float side by side. In front of the platforms is a huge curved light screen, on which complex runes and data streams are flowing.

"How will the competition proceed?" Qin Ming looked around the arena, which blended technology with classical formations, and asked directly.

This should be the standardized assessment venue within the Formation Academy, and it's his first time entering as a combat major.

Sun Yi frowned slightly upon hearing Qin Ming's overly direct and even somewhat uninformed question, but trusting Elder Sun, he suppressed his emotions and pointed to the central operating platform, explaining:

"This is connected to the academy's 'Ten Thousand Questions Database' central hub, which can automatically generate a massive number of targeted questions. The competition mode mainly assesses two aspects:"

The first is "Completion and Correction", which means that a flawed or subtly erroneous array structure diagram is given, and the missing array patterns are required to be completed within a specified time.

The second aspect is "optimization and improvement." Based on an existing, fully functional array, this involves enhancing one or more performance indicators, such as energy utilization efficiency, stability, and startup speed, by replacing specific materials, fine-tuning energy circuits, or adding/removing auxiliary runes.

He walked to one of the operating platforms and gestured for Qin Ming to stand on the other: "We'll choose 'Comprehensive Speed ​​Race Mode.' The system will randomly select a sequence of questions with increasing difficulty from the question bank and synchronize them to both of our platforms in real time."

"Completion time and accuracy are scored together, and the difficulty of the questions will gradually increase as you progress. The system will ultimately determine the winner based on overall performance."

"All data, including remaining time, current score, and question difficulty coefficient, will be displayed in real time on the public screen over there, ensuring fairness and transparency."

Qin Ming nodded, indicating that he understood.

Instead of starting immediately, he first stood in front of his operating platform, carefully browsed the question category directory and operation guide displayed on the side screen of the platform, and then casually clicked on a few example questions of different difficulties to try to simulate solving and submitting them, familiarizing himself with the entire operation process and feedback mechanism.

Upon seeing and testing it, Qin Ming felt a slight chill.

The scope and depth of the questions in this "10,000-question bank" clearly far exceed the requirements of the first year of the Combat Academy, or even the regular compulsory courses of the Formation Academy.

He only occasionally dabbled in many array principles, the properties of uncommon materials, and the application of ancient variant array patterns during his extended reading. If it had been more than half a month ago, he would most likely have been completely clueless.

That was close... I almost made a huge fool of myself. Qin Ming remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was secretly relieved.

Even so, Qin Ming dared not be careless in the slightest. In this kind of assessment, once the answer is submitted, there is no chance to modify it again. Although it is a simulation, it imitates the real-world situation.

This places high demands on every stroke of the pen, every choice of materials, and every adjustment of the circuit.

If the later, more difficult questions are hard to answer, then every point in the earlier ones should be fought for. With this in mind, Qin Ming became extremely cautious.

Therefore, when faced with each problem, he did not rush to solve it. Instead, he first conducted multiple simulations and trials on the virtual sandbox provided by the operating platform, and used his existing knowledge to cross-validate the solutions until he found the most reliable one before submitting it.

Under this strategy, Qin Ming's problem-solving speed inevitably slowed down.

On the public screen, the progress bars representing the two players' progress and their real-time scores began to show a discrepancy.

On Sun Yi's side, the progress bar was steadily advancing and the score was steadily increasing, while on Qin Ming's side, the progress was slow, but what was remarkable was that his accuracy curve was right on the edge and never dropped.

Qin Ming would occasionally glance at the total countdown and estimated time for the remaining questions in the lower right corner of the screen, silently estimating the time in his mind.

Although it's not fast, at the current pace, we should be able to complete the number of questions in our previous answering record before time runs out.

So he calmed down and continued to maintain this steady, even somewhat "lukewarm" pace, focusing on each problem at hand.

When Sun Yi efficiently completed all the questions in the first category, "Completion and Errata," with smooth and skillful techniques, the system automatically switched the question types. He subconsciously glanced at Qin Ming's data on the public screen.

[Progress] (Qin Ming) 35%; (Sun Yi) 50%

[Accuracy Rate] (Qin Ming) 100%; (Sun Yi) 97.8%

He simply made a small oversight and caused a minor problem, while Qin Ming's progress was genuinely behind schedule.

Sun Yi curled his lip in disdain. He adjusted his posture and spoke in a low voice, loud enough for Qin Ming, who was not far away, to hear clearly: "The accuracy rate is not bad, but the speed... it seems you're not very skilled!"

He paused, then continued, "Junior Brother Qin Ming, don't forget, the difficulty increases exponentially as you go on. At your current speed, you might not have enough time!"

These words weren't particularly harsh, but in a tense and competitive atmosphere, they were undoubtedly a form of psychological interference.

If Qin Ming loses his composure due to his eagerness to catch up, causing his accuracy to drop, then the already lagging progress will be irreversible.

I was thinking of replying with "Why did your accuracy drop?", but then I realized that those few words would take up too much time, so I decided against it.

In the end, the results speak for themselves. As his proficiency improved, he became more and more focused and had a clear grasp of the remaining time.

So he simply glanced up at the screen, a faint smile playing on his lips, but didn't reply, continuing to analyze the problem in front of him methodically.

But... some turtles weren't happy about it!

Since entering this "battle arena," Little Fatty hasn't paid much attention to the competition itself.

Because his boss was invincible, it wasn't because he'd never been here before; he was just curious.

In short, he first examined the star array on the dome, then scratched at the stone on the ground with his claws, and then tried to touch the flowing light screen on the wall.

He strolled leisurely along the edge of the hall like a visiting "master."

But that doesn't mean he's deaf. When he heard Sun Yi's dismissive words, the little fat boy immediately became unhappy.

How dare they look down on their boss! How can a subordinate like me save face!

Little Fatty immediately stopped lying down and darted to Qin Ming's control platform. He stretched his already long neck and stared intently at the rapidly spinning and incredibly complex array light diagram on the platform with his black bean eyes wide open.

He looked left and right, up and down...

Damn! I don't understand!

The twisted lines, shimmering runes, and interwoven energy circuits looked no different from a celestial book to Little Fatty, and were even a bit dazzling.

A rare sense of frustration, like "you only realize how little you know when you need it," welled up in Xiao Pang's heart.

His eyes widened, and his cheeks puffed out involuntarily, growing bigger and bigger as he sulked.

Just when his eyes were practically crossed and he felt like his head was about to explode, something miraculous happened.

His vision seemed to be filtered through a very faint, water-like filter.

The complex array of light patterns that were originally difficult to understand suddenly became covered with a uniform and soft silver luster, as did the overall outline and the "general trend" of energy flow.

However, in this magnificent silver silk, there will always be one or two areas where the color is slightly dull, as if there is poor contact or stains.

These "dark spots" stand out starkly against the surrounding smooth silver halo, appearing unusually glaring and discordant.

At first, Little Fatty thought he had overused his eyes and suddenly developed glaucoma or dry eye syndrome. He sadly raised his paw to rub his eyes, and as he rubbed them, he saw Qin Ming walking towards the dim light.

No one knows what Qin Ming did, but the "dark spot" became brighter and clearer at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly merging into the surrounding smooth silver halo.

Then, the platform flashed, the question refreshed, and we moved on to the next one.

Fatty: "Huh???"

He blinked, completely stunned. Was that just... a coincidence? Or...?

Filled with immense doubt and inexplicable excitement, Little Fatty raised his head again, which had been drooping, and stared intently at the new array diagram that Qin Ming was working on.

Sure enough, a headache struck, my vision blurred, and the same scene appeared again!

The overall light silver halo had a few obvious gray flaws, and Qin Ming was looking for these flaws to repair!

Once is a coincidence, but twice?

Little Fatty's brain, which wasn't complicated but was definitely not stupid, started working at lightning speed.

He suddenly realized that although he couldn't understand the specific principles of the formation, he could see which parts were "dirty" and which parts were "blocked"! He succeeded!

Little Fatty instantly perked up, and all the previous frustration and sadness vanished!

He held his head high, braced himself with his limbs, and strode over with great pride and arrogance.

But apart from the Snow-Treading Sable glancing at it from the shadows, no one noticed the inexplicably excited turtle.

Just as Qin Ming finished submitting the previous question and the new question was loading, Xiao Pang squeezed into the limited space between Qin Ming and the operating platform.

He raised his paw, pointing urgently to the area in the new array diagram that he found to be the darkest and most distorted, while simultaneously tilting his head back and transmitting his thoughts in a resounding voice:

"Waaah! Boss, hurry up and follow the turtle!"

Just as Qin Ming was preparing to summarize, analyze, and verify the information from multiple sources, as before, he was taken aback by Xiao Pang's last-minute comment: "...What are you doing?"

"The tortoise's senses and intuition tell it that something is wrong!"

Qin Ming said earnestly, "Solving this kind of problem requires a process and logic; you can't just rely on intuition, understand?"

Seeing that the little fat boy couldn't explain it clearly, Qin Ming still had the leisure to educate him.

But the next second, Qin Ming, who had calculated a familiar location, trembled and frowned.

Something's not right.

Upon further reflection, something really doesn't seem right.

Change the question!