CHAPTER 1435: CHAPTER 1436: HEADING TO TIRAYA

"Have you figured out the travel route yet? I’ve already told you where we’ll be staying."

On the high-speed train, Feng Yuan spoke to Xiao Ji, who was in his arms in the form of an Eggshell Chicken, searching for information on his phone. The Big Cat behind them was meowing, unclear whether it was responding to Feng Yuan or talking to Xiao Ji. Since there were plenty of extra seats on the train departing from Soretcher City, Feng Yuan decided to buy seats for the Spirit Beasts he had with him.

"They obviously haven’t got it all figured out yet, especially after that incident last time. They’re bound to be more careful this time."

Agunas glanced at Xiao Ji, who was too busy to pay attention to Feng Yuan, and said. Though technically nothing major happened last time, it was a significant deviation from Xiao Ji’s plans, and the unhappy Xiao Ji was being extra diligent this time around.

"In that case, I’ll just take you guys to eat first."

Feng Yuan, looking helpless, ruffled the hair on Xiao Ji’s head. After all, they were on a high-speed train, and Soretcher City wasn’t very far from Tiraya, so Xiao Ji didn’t have much time.

Xiao Ji looked up at Feng Yuan, chirped once, and continued searching through the pile of information. Agunas translated.

"It says it’s fine, and it hopes to guide us tomorrow."

"Hmm, that’s still doable. By the way, we don’t need to register for the Flower Festival, right?"

Remembering something, Feng Yuan looked at Agunas and asked. Although the information he found suggested no registration was needed, similar to the event at the Wind Festival which only required tickets, he wasn’t sure if there were any special competitions or events that required registration.

Hearing Feng Yuan’s words, Agunas pulled out a book, checked, and said,

"Visiting doesn’t require registration. The competitions are by invitation only, no on-the-spot registrations accepted. As for the free contests, they restrict participation to Plant-type Spirit Beasts, so there’s nothing that requires you to register."

"Are there events needing registration?"

Feng Yuan looked at Agunas and asked. Agunas glanced at Xiao Ji, who wasn’t paying attention to this matter, and said,

"That’s right, a lot of Beastmasters will be present during the Flower Festival. Besides the invitation-only contests, there will also be numerous competitive matches, although those are restricted to Plant-type Spirit Beasts only."

Saying this, Agunas turned to Qi Chen, who was sitting across the aisle talking to Dou Yanlan. Among them, only Qi Chen’s beasts met the requirements. As for Feng Yuan? Although he could temporarily find other Spirit Beasts to cope, he probably wouldn’t want to engage in such antics.

"Hmm, a competition exclusive to Plant-type Spirit Beasts? No wonder Xiao Ji isn’t interested."

Looking at Xiao Ji in his arms, Feng Yuan said nonchalantly. If it wasn’t for wanting to make Xiao Ji happy, he wouldn’t bother participating in those matches himself. Unless it seemed intriguing, to him, those competitions were a waste of time.

"I thought you might try to find a way to sneak in."

Long Boduo, sitting beside Feng Yuan, glanced at him and said. It was quite interested in the competition, but being a non-Plant-type Spirit Beast, it couldn’t participate, and as for finding one temporarily?

It’s a Ghost-type Divine Beast, and doesn’t have a great relationship with the Spirit Beasts of the real world, making it tough to ask them for help. Plus, it wasn’t even sure if those matches involved Beastmasters. If it could only watch from the sidelines, it wouldn’t be bothered, since winning or losing meant nothing to it.

"Probably competitions designed based on the characteristics of Plant-type Spirit Beasts. I don’t have any Plant-type Spirit Beasts, so what’s the point of joining those matches? Unless the reward is very tempting, but that’s impossible."

Feng Yuan shrugged and said nonchalantly. While an invitational might be possible, for an event open to everyone, it’s at most a souvenir, not a great reward. Feng Yuan didn’t believe Tiraya was rich enough to squander like that.

"You do have a point, but it seems a bit wasteful."

Long Boduo thought about it and said. After hearing Feng Yuan’s reasoning, it also felt that’s likely the case. These competitions meant to liven up the atmosphere seemed unlikely to offer great rewards. Besides, as a Divine Beast, any reward appealing to it would probably be of mind-boggling value, maybe not something even Drochkar could afford to give away in a competition.

"Is it basically what the official promotions say?"

Feng Yuan pointed to the mysterious surprises and asked Agunas. It was because he wasn’t sure what those mysterious surprises entailed that he asked Agunas for the details.

Wagging his tail, Agunas compared the information on Feng Yuan’s phone and said,

"Yes, those mysterious surprises include exhibition matches, live demonstrations of flower petal bread making, and various mini-competitions. They also announce the Plant-type Spirit Beasts contests and the city treasure hunt activity."

"City treasure hunt activity?"

Hearing this term made Feng Yuan’s eyes light up. It sounded pretty interesting, but with so many people, could it be managed properly? Wouldn’t everyone just end up searching for the same treasure? If nothing goes wrong, Feng Yuan would be surprised.

"It seems so. Based on their arrangement, it should be quite entertaining, but for you... it might be interesting if you don’t cheat."

Agunas said while glancing at Feng Yuan. No matter what the event was, it couldn’t withstand Feng Yuan’s mischief. If he wanted to cheat, any event would become dull. Feng Yuan, unhappy with the strange look from Agunas, retorted,

"What do you mean by me cheating! If it were really fun, why would I cheat! You should be more worried about Long Boduo. But can they really manage a treasure hunt activity properly? With so many tourists, surely they can’t ensure everyone finds something, right? In which case, no need to dig at all, it’d be just lying around."

No matter how large Tiraya City is, it’s nothing in the face of the massive number of tourists. A city-wide treasure hunt? Feng Yuan simply didn’t believe they could ensure everyone found a treasure. Some serious folks might even end up fighting.

"It’s not about placing physical treasures directly. They seem to use the Data City within the Data Domain to conduct the activity, so all treasures are only visible to the individual, and they’re mostly small merchant souvenirs. Participants can either fill in a mailing address or arrange to pick them up."

Wagging his tail, Agunas said. If it weren’t for the data city, it would also have agreed with Feng Yuan that it wasn’t feasible. Not to mention that once participants increased, there wouldn’t be enough hidden treasures.

"A Data City, huh? That method could work. What do you think, interested?"

Feng Yuan rubbed his chin, looked at Long Boduo, and the latter nodded, saying,

"Of course, it sounds like fun, but no teams allowed?"

"No, they haven’t advanced their use of the Data City to that level. Besides, you can entirely act together, as the event isn’t timed strictly."

Agunas said after glancing at Long Boduo. Teaming up for a treasure hunt isn’t much different from acting together, unless everyone hunts for the same treasure, which could cause issues. After all, there is a small gift involved. Adjusting difficulty, changing treasure hunt methods, etc., cover many aspects.

The organizers clearly don’t plan to put much effort into that area. After all, it’s just one activity of the Flower Festival. Making it too successful could steal the limelight, which would be awkward.

"A relatively free event? Which makes sense, given that it’s the Flower Festival, not a Treasure Hunt Festival."

Feng Yuan instantly realized this upon hearing Agunas’s words. That kind of event probably wouldn’t be well-executed, taking too much time and effort without being appreciated. As for holding it independently? It doesn’t have anything truly unique; if it turns out well, other places would certainly imitate it.

On the other hand, a festival unique to the Flower Festival focusing on local characteristics would be harder to replicate. Hence, enhancing the Flower Festival as a lauded activity of Tiraya would be more important.

"How about adding this to our schedule?"

Feng Yuan gently patted Xiao Ji on the head and said with a smile. After a moment of silence, Xiao Ji chirped a few times. It could feel Feng Yuan’s interest in the activity and naturally didn’t object. Agunas translated for them,

"It agreed but isn’t sure about the impact on the schedule."

"Why don’t you tell it? I don’t really understand your Spirit Beast language anyway."

Looking at Agunas, Feng Yuan said. He wasn’t sure if those schedules would impact the enjoyment. Since Agunas could communicate with Xiao Ji in Spirit Beast language, Xiao Ji knowing the schedule likely wouldn’t matter much. After all, from the looks of it, Xiao Ji probably wasn’t very interested in the treasure hunt either.