Chapter 14: The Teacher's Invitation

The Fifth Rank was a qualitative transformation for Beast Tamers. At that point, they would open up a Beast Space of their own. This space allowed spirit beasts to enter it, bringing tremendous convenience. More importantly, it enabled the Beast Tamer to draw far greater power from their spirit beasts.

From the moment a person contracted a spirit beast, the spirit beast's growth would continuously feed back into the Beast Tamer. But under normal circumstances, that feedback amounted to only five percent. At that stage, in battles involving spirit beasts and demon beasts, a Beast Tamer was considered qualified as long as he could protect himself. There was no question of personally fighting the enemy head-on.

But at the Fifth Rank, that feedback rose from 5% to 10%. A Fifth-Rank Beast Tamer usually possessed at least three spirit beasts, and once their talents stacked together onto a single person, they could barely reach the Intermediate level. That, in turn, allowed the Beast Tamer to absorb spiritual energy normally and strengthen himself.

Because of that, Beast Tamers themselves would gradually begin to possess combat power at this stage.

At the same time, a Fifth-Rank Beast Tamer would also gain further development of mental power and learn mental communication, allowing him to direct his spirit beasts with greater secrecy and speed.

As for the Sixth Rank, a Beast Tamer did not undergo any especially dramatic change. The same was true at the Seventh Rank. These were collectively called mid-level Beast Tamers, and the difference between them was still primarily judged through their spirit beasts.

The Eighth Rank, however, was different. The feedback brought by spirit beasts rose once more, reaching 15%. Under normal circumstances before that point, unless one contracted a mental-type spirit beast, only the odd-numbered ranks granted an additional contract slot. But beginning at the Eighth Rank, even the weakest Eighth-Rank Beast Tamer could contract eight spirit beasts.

That amounted to 120% of their strength.

At that point, the Beast Tamer's own combat power had already surpassed that of an individual spirit beast. In some cases, because of spell combinations, they could even crush certain spirit beasts outright.

At the Ninth Rank, the feedback could reach 20%, and the gap became incomparably terrifying. There was no such thing as fighting above one's level anymore. A Ninth-Rank Beast Tamer was known as a Heavenly King.

There were currently two Heavenly Kings on the Shenzhou Continent.

One was the Dragon-Taming Heavenly King. His spirit beasts were chiefly dragons, extraordinarily powerful and blessed with immense longevity. It was said that he had lived for thousands of years. Wang Mu did not know whether that was true. Information on such great figures existed mostly as rumor.

The second Heavenly King was the Construct Heavenly King. All of Shenzhou's current technological advancement had been driven forward by him alone, and that was because the spirit beasts under his command were exceptionally unique. They were known as the Mechanical Race and were entirely different from ordinary spirit beasts.

All of the present-day devices and instruments used throughout the Beast Tamer system had been developed on the basis of the Mechanical Race. Because of certain technical barriers, they still could not be fully popularized.

Take spirit beast inspection instruments, for example. The one Wang Mu used was a first-generation model and could be purchased for ten or twenty million. But as for the latest third-generation inspection instrument, only Breeding Masters were qualified to buy one, and even its price was unknown.

A second-generation inspection instrument could check a spirit beast's life source, lifespan, attributes, quantified talents, and spells. Breeders could purchase them, but the price stood at over five billion. Under normal circumstances, only true Breeders could afford one. Wang Mu, however, was the sort of person who was not cheating, and yet may as well have been, so he could afford it too.

As for a life source replenishment device, the official listed cost was fifty billion, while each unit of life source cost ten million.

These products, so far beyond the common era, were extremely expensive, but at least they were still the sort of things one could buy with money. The truly precious things were different. Having money alone was useless.

That was why Wang Mu could only sigh at the fact that he had 1.2 billion on hand.

It still was not enough.

He earned a great deal, but he spent even more. Upgrading all kinds of facilities required hundreds of billions. Replacing the ecological zone's soil with spirit soil and switching in all kinds of high-grade plants cost roughly the same again.

And after that came breeding materials.

That was the true bottomless pit.

So long as Wang Mu continued researching spirit beast breeding, there was no way to stop investing. Once materials were consumed, they were gone. Developing a new spirit beast could demand endless input without ever producing results.

"Alas," Wang Mu sighed aloud. "I'm still too young. Back then, I thought things through and figured I'd be earning hundreds of billions a year by now, that in a few years I wouldn't lack money at all, and that in the future the entire economic system wouldn't be enough for me to squander. But the truth is that, at most, money will only let me lay a solid foundation."

"Medium-level goods can still be bought. But once one reaches the Eighth Rank, nothing can be measured by money alone. At that level, transactions return to the oldest model of all—barter. If it's something you need, you take it even at an inflated price."

Wang Mu had already looked into prices before. From the First to the Fourth Ranks, even the rarest materials were generally capped at ten million. But in the range between the Fifth and Seventh Ranks, ordinary materials still were not expensive, while rare materials began to suffer severe premiums.

Even if one was a famous breeder, one still had to offer some benefits when acquiring them. Otherwise, those materials would never lack buyers, and breeding centers competed with one another just the same.

Take the Blaze Sparrow, for instance. It could evolve into the Lord-rank spirit beast, the Fire God Sparrow. If one wanted it to comprehend the weather spell Blazing Sun after evolving, then one needed a Solarflame Crystal and Sunbird Feathers. The moment those two materials appeared on the market, people would fight like mad over them.

Usually, information about such materials was bought in private, then the materials were acquired, and only after that would the actual transaction take place.

At present, Wang Mu had already begun accumulating rare materials through the sale of premium spirit beasts. Though he had not yet needed them, he certainly would in the future. These materials could also serve as bargaining chips at the exchange meeting. If someone else happened to need them, and happened to possess something Wang Mu needed in return, then a trade could be made.

What newcomers needed at the exchange meeting were money and materials.

But even more than that, they needed knowledge.

Wang Mu found that part genuinely difficult to trade. Others could not share spells with spirit beasts, and could only rely on spell crystals. However, those could only be condensed after reaching the Fifth Rank, and generally people would only bother condensing high-tier spell crystals.

The reason the Association possessed mid-tier spells at all was entirely to provide benefits for low- and mid-tier breeders. Otherwise, given the cost of condensing a crystal, mid-tier spells were not worth the trouble in the slightest. Wang Mu had once heard Teacher Zhu Tao mention that there was no difference between condensing a mid-tier spell and a high-tier spell. Both required one Heavenly Origin Crystal.

That was the memory-core of a Sixth-Rank Overlord demon beast, the Heavenly Origin Demon Dragon. What it carried was memory and insight. If a Beast Tamer merely separated out his own insights and let others study them, the effect was very poor. Only by dividing off a trace of the spell's true intent could another person learn it instantly and use it at once.

The price, however, was that the Beast Tamer's own control over the spell would decline, forcing him to comprehend it all over again.

Generally speaking, only the elders of great families—once they had reached a stage where they could no longer improve—would make spell crystals for their descendants.

Or else certain Beast Tamers would choose to turn their own spells into crystals as trade goods, all for the sake of their spirit beasts.

After preparing for most of the day, Wang Mu finally began to rest. The exchange meeting would begin in two days, and there was no need to say more than that.

He immediately went on to hatch another batch of Greenleaf Caterpillars.

With the experience of the previous three batches, Wang Mu handled this one with complete ease, and directly fixed the number at one thousand.

He had to make money faster and strive to buy back a fully automated hatchery as early as possible. This kind of repetitive process that required no real technique ought to be turned over entirely to technology. It would save him a great deal of effort.

Of course, Wang Mu could currently help using mindforce, but human strength had limits. His energy needed to be spent on study. He still had not finished reading through the ordinary literature, and every day he set aside some time to review it. He had only been reading less recently because of how busy he had been raising spirit beasts. Once the breeding center was fully on track, he would resume that habit.

Just when Wang Mu had thought the next two days would still pass in peace, Zhu Tao called him.

The voice on the other side sounded somewhat tired. "You passed the High-Level Breeder assessment? Congratulations."

Wang Mu quickly said, "Teacher Zhu, have you finished your work? I was only able to pass because of your guidance."

"Heh." Zhu Tao was in a good mood and let out a light chuckle. "I deserve some credit, but your talent matters more. I couldn't come for the opening of your breeding center, so that plot of land was my congratulatory gift."

"The New Generation Breeder Exchange Meeting is the day after tomorrow. Are you planning to go?"

"Yes, Teacher. I intend to exchange for some resources," Wang Mu answered honestly.

As for how Zhu Tao knew such things, there was no mystery to it. He had once been through the same path himself. Like Wang Mu, this teacher came from an ordinary background rather than a great family.

Zhu Tao was as direct as ever. "Don't go."

Wang Mu froze.

Zhu Tao's voice continued from the other end. "Someone in your Shanhai City has gotten carried away and wants to start gathering followers. If you go, you'll gain some benefits, yes, but you'll also bring a great deal more trouble onto yourself. Come find me tomorrow—or now, if you like. Withdraw from the exchange meeting."

"All right, Teacher. I'll come immediately."

Filled with doubt, Wang Mu took the Greenleaf Butterfly with him and headed out. When one was away from home, it was always best to bring some kind of "weapon." Qingling was maintaining the breeding center's ecology and was not suitable to be taken away.

Still, before leaving, Wang Mu also had to speak to Qingling.

"Qingling, I'm heading out for a while, so be sure to watch the house properly."

Its leaves swayed, showing that it understood.

Though it did not want its master to leave, as for its master's safety... it could not speak, but if it could have, it would probably have said this: It was a proud Third-Rank Commander spirit beast, and even then, it might not actually be able to beat its master.

Once outside, Wang Mu found his car and fell silent for a moment. Then he used the spell Tailwind. A breeze swept past, blowing away the dust that covered the vehicle, after which he rolled it all into the roadside greenery with mindforce.

He had not gone out at all during this period. The car was nearly unrecognizable.

As he drove toward the Association, Wang Mu canceled his reservation for the exchange meeting, while also considering whether to get a utility pet—one with high flight speed would be enough. Driving required detours. Spirit beasts, on the other hand, were much more convenient.

As a High-Level Breeder, he could apply for three fixed high-altitude routes. For places he visited often, he would be able to fly there directly in a straight line, which was much faster.

An hour later, Wang Mu saw Teacher Zhu Tao's assistant waiting at the entrance to the Association. The man led Wang Mu into a secret realm. As a Breeder, Zhu Tao was qualified to apply for a secret realm for experimental use even while away from his home city.

When Wang Mu finally saw Zhu Tao, he was in the middle of manipulating various materials into a glass vessel, which connected to another container. It was a machine for producing special nutrient solution. It had no listed price at all. Only after reaching the Breeder tier could one apply for it.

Beside Zhu Tao stood a man and a woman, and when they saw Wang Mu arrive, they instinctively moved to block the container.

But Zhu Tao, while still splitting his attention, said, "No need. If he wants the formula, there are people who would willingly offer it to him."

Wang Mu could only smile awkwardly. "Teacher, that's going a bit too far. Those formulas are extremely precious. They're the foundation some people stand on. No one would ever simply give them away."

Zhu Tao added a large batch of materials all at once, pausing briefly over each one and displaying astonishing control. Only after he was finished did he turn to look at Wang Mu.

"If the reward were a stable purchase qualification for Commander-rank spirit beasts, I think they'd gladly hand it over."

It was as though he had already foreseen what Wang Mu was about to say, because he cut him off directly.

"Stop. Don't be modest. Every classroom test this year was written by me personally. Do you think I don't know your level?"

"Five years."

"At most five years, and you'll become a Junior Breeder. So here's one piece of advice: don't involve yourself in anything else. Focus on improving peacefully."

"The Breeder tier is an entirely new stage."