Chapter 17: Shared Level “7”!

"I may be a breeder, but a breeder can also be a Beast Tamer. In that case, I'll choose this one."

After comparing the options, Wang Mu chose the spell 《Force of Life》. It could gather wood spiritual energy for healing, while also strengthening one's life source and wood spiritual affinity. Even among high-tier spells, it counted as a premium one.

After that, Wang Mu spent five hundred points to buy five mid-tier spells.

《Forest Domain》: When standing within a forest or a similar environment, the power of all wood-attribute spells increases. This spell would also serve as a foundation for future comprehension. Once the Greenwood Spirit reached the Seventh Rank, it had a chance of comprehending the spell 《Forest Terrain》.

《Arrow Barrage》: A relatively straightforward wood-attribute offensive spell. It could also carry damage of other attributes, making it a high-quality spell.

《Growth》: It could raise one's strength in a short period of time, by as much as tenfold. The stronger the user already was, the smaller the multiplier became. It was said to lose its effect entirely at the Eighth Rank. At the same time, it was restricted to wood-attribute plant-type spirit beasts. On the surface, it seemed to have many drawbacks, but in truth, it was an exceptionally powerful enhancement spell.

《Wood Spirit Blessing》: Similar to Earth Ward, it was likewise a defensive spell.

《Life Sense》: A detection spell of the same type as Mental Scan. It required the user to possess the ability to sense life, and its range was linked to the user's mental power.

With that, Wang Mu had gathered healing, enhancement, attack, defense, and detection spells. He could now preliminarily breed a perfect wood-attribute spirit beast.

If a spirit beast could possess one high-tier spell and five or six mid-tier spells the moment it transformed, then even by a conservative estimate, it would at least reach Beast King rank. But if it acquired those spells only later, then it would have to wait until its next evolution before its bloodline rank could rise.

Wang Mu was not asking for much. Commander rank would be enough.

For the time being, he would continue focusing stubbornly on the Greenleaf Butterfly.

At present, within spirit beast breeding, it was already known that a low-tier spell at the Control level influenced evolution more strongly than a mid-tier spell at the Beginner level. A high-tier spell would certainly surpass them both.

That left Wang Mu quite eager to see the result.

Once he placed the order, the spell crystals would be delivered in two or three days. Wang Mu did not waste the time in the slightest. The Water Mist Butterfly that had once consumed the Mist Ancient Tree essence had already evolved its bloodline to Elite rank, so Wang Mu found the Brightglow Butterfly and shared each of their spells with the other.

He still had ideas regarding the Phantom Butterfly. The combination of water and light could produce a Phantom Butterfly. Wang Mu did not know the precise evolution route, but he could at least test it.

At the same time, Wang Mu also used the tail feathers of the Three-Colored Brocade Pheasant to cultivate the Phoenix-Eyed Butterfly. He intended to research whether this spirit butterfly still had room to advance. After all, the cost of having his father replace his spirit beast would be rather high. Before reaching the Fifth Rank, if a Beast Tamer lost or replaced three spirit beasts, it would affect the quality of the Beast Space.

The strength other people's spirit beasts fed back to them was 10% or 15%. But if such replacements happened too many times, that ratio would decline, and that was the sort of thing that affected an entire lifetime.

Furthermore, the grade of spirit beasts contracted before the Fifth Rank also affected the quality of the Beast Space. Since Wang Lingfeng's contracted spirit beasts were already fixed, then all that remained was to raise their bloodline.

Because Wang Mu had asked for help, Wang Lingfeng was currently avoiding the areas of Fourth-Rank demon beasts, so his safety was guaranteed. Meanwhile, Wang Mu had begun wondering how to persuade his mother, Jiang Meiqin, to resign from her work as well.

Being a Spirit Chef had originally been her hobby, but family circumstances had turned it into her profession.

As for what her dream truly was...

Wang Mu watched a spirit butterfly emerge from its cocoon within the weather simulator and dance through the air, then suddenly laughed.

"This is a world of Beast Tamers. There may be one person in ten million who doesn't want to become a Beast Tamer, but my mother is definitely not one of them."

Wang Mu still remembered that, among the three spirit butterflies before, Jiang Meiqin had glanced at the Azure Jade Butterfly several times. It was not an absolute rule, but in this world, regardless of gender, Beast Tamers all tended to favor spirit beasts with higher appearance value.

Mighty ones. Beautiful ones. Delicate ones. Splendid ones...

Even breeders would deliberately choose spirit beasts with especially fine appearances to raise—except for one peculiar Grandmaster.

Variant City was one of the earliest cities founded by humanity. Its ruler was the breeder known as the Variant Master, who had since become a Breeding Grandmaster. This great figure possessed a truly unusual aesthetic. At first, the spirit beasts he raised merely leaned toward ferocious and menacing appearances. Later, however, his spirit beasts took a full turn toward the bizarre and grotesque.

Some of them were so strange they nearly hurt the eyes.

And yet, countless people still sought them.

Why?

Because the Variant Grandmaster's spirit beasts pursued only one thing: power. Everything else could be discarded.

Wang Mu still leaned toward the mainstream. The spirit butterflies he currently bred were all exceptionally presentable, and in the future, even when he bred Oddshrooms, he intended them to remain on the adorable side.

The Oddshroom itself possessed a natural Commander-rank bloodline, and once it began reproducing, Qingmu Breeding Center would immediately gain another spirit beast line.

But Wang Mu was unwilling to do that.

Leaving aside the cost, the simple fact remained that the Oddshroom was born Commander rank. It was not something Wang Mu had personally bred, and that alone made him unwilling to sell it directly.

At the very least, he wanted to improve it first before placing it among the breeding center's stock.

Because of Association regulations, naturally high-grade spirit beasts did not count toward breeder assessments. Thus, breeders generally only began selling such naturally high-grade spirit beasts after they themselves were already capable of breeding spirit beasts of the same level. Otherwise, people would think they lacked ability.

Breeders were, after all, rather proud.

Qingling had rooted itself at the center of the ecological zone. In that state, its strength rose dramatically, though the drawback was that it could not move. Trees preferred stillness, but now that Qingling had developed intelligence, it had also gained other needs.

Especially when Wang Mu was breeding spirit beasts, Qingling would help, using mindforce to move certain materials to the proper places.

Once the Greenleaf Butterfly noticed Qingling's actions, it actually flew out into the ecological zone and summoned several spirit butterflies that knew Mindforce to come help as well.

That left Wang Mu stunned.

At that moment, he genuinely wanted to contract it.

As a breeder, he understood all too well what this quality meant.

The grading of spirit beast bloodlines was not arbitrary. Starting at Commander rank, wild demon beasts could already command part of their own kind.

A Beast King was the king of a single race.

A Lord was the king of every spirit beast and demon beast inhabiting one mountain, one river, or one lake.

An Overlord was the ruler of an entire region, capable of altering the weather itself at a whim, so that all living beings within that region would regard it as a god.

A King-rank existence was even simpler to understand.

It was kingly in the most absolute sense.

It possessed the power to establish rules. Regardless of species or place, when a King-rank existence arrived, it meant that place now had a new maker of laws. Its rule was not merely regional.

This Greenleaf Butterfly quite clearly possessed the potential for a Beast King bloodline.

Wang Mu took it even more seriously after that.

Two days later, once the Association delivered the spell crystals, Wang Mu gave them all to Qingling to learn first. The Greenleaf Butterfly, meanwhile, was a little sullen—

and Wang Mu only grew happier.

He became completely certain that the Greenleaf Butterfly's intelligence was very high.

Among insect-type and plant-type spirit beasts, the former were publicly recognized as being low in intelligence and short-lived. The latter were recognized for longevity, though they lacked intelligence in their early stages, only becoming wiser with age.

Yet now, this Greenleaf Butterfly not only possessed a lifespan comparable to an ordinary spirit beast, but also intelligence that was anything but low. That proved it truly deserved to be called a king.

Wang Mu could now begin investing resources into it.

Qingling learned the five mid-tier spells first, requiring an average of one day for each. The high-tier spell 《Force of Life》, however, took a full ten days. By the time all of that was completed, another batch of spirit butterflies had already broken from their cocoons, and their Beast Tamers had come to take them away.

After learning 《Force of Life》, Qingling's wood talent directly rose to Intermediate, High Grade. In the future, it would undoubtedly continue rising.

What belonged to Qingling also belonged to Wang Mu.

Once he shared everything over from it, even the spell 《Growth》—which was originally usable only by plant-type spirit beasts—underwent a change, allowing Wang Mu to use it as well. Which meant that the Greenleaf Butterfly, though not a plant, could now also possess the spell 《Growth》.

This was precisely why Wang Mu had set his sights on becoming a breeder from the time he was little.

In his hands, the impossible could be made possible.

The Greenleaf Butterfly had been sulking because Wang Mu had not given it any good things, but beyond that, it displayed no special temper and still helped every day.

On this day, Wang Mu watched as the spirit butterfly with dual water-light attributes began advancing to the Fourth Rank, forming a cocoon. That signaled that his research had reached a new stage, and he could finally take a brief rest.

So Wang Mu beckoned the Greenleaf Butterfly over to the center of the ecological zone.

There stood a banyan tree three meters tall. That height was not especially impressive, and yet its canopy spread ten meters across. A faint green mist surrounded it, and emerald droplets lay upon its leaves.

Ever since mastering 《Force of Life》, Qingling had changed tremendously.

Wang Mu pointed at Qingling and used mental power to communicate with the Greenleaf Butterfly.

"See that? Those things can only be used by plants. I had to study them properly before I could give them to you. Are you ready now?"

The Greenleaf Butterfly immediately grew excited.

It wanted to become stronger too.

It darted up and down through the air, even releasing mental power outward to transmit the meaning of "yes" to Wang Mu.

Wang Mu's smile deepened.

He had never taught it the technique of external mental communication, yet the Greenleaf Butterfly had comprehended it on its own. Its aptitude truly was excellent.

With that thought in mind, Wang Mu held out his hand, and the Greenleaf Butterfly settled there. He first shared the spell 《Growth》 with it.

The nearby spiritual energy was immediately drawn toward the butterfly. At that moment, its body actually began to turn into energy, while the dark-cyan patterns on its body shone with brilliance.

Though it possessed only Third-Rank strength, the Greenleaf Butterfly now erupted with the aura of the Fourth Rank.

A phantom butterfly formed of wood spiritual energy spread over its body. That was how 《Growth》 manifested upon it.

Yet Wang Mu felt a strange fluctuation.

He could clearly sense the Greenleaf Butterfly's emotions, as though he were personally experiencing them himself. He could also sense Qingling's emotions that way, but Qingling was still a tree, and its emotional fluctuations were not especially strong.

That caused Wang Mu to check the Greenleaf Butterfly almost by reflex.

Sure enough, one thing had changed.

Shared Level 5 → 7.

There actually was a Seventh Level!

And only after reaching that level did Wang Mu learn the truth. At Level 6, one could already share all ordinary spells, regardless of whether those spells had reached Perfection or Innovation.

At Level 7, one could share talents and certain special spells.

At Level 8, one could share certain traits.

At Level 9, one could share existential rank and authority.

And beyond all of those lay MAX, which could share everything, including concepts. Even if it did not appear within the visible information, so long as one discovered it, one could still share it.

For a moment, Wang Mu was utterly stunned.

His talent was no simple thing.

The Greenleaf Butterfly's kingly quality itself was a trait. The ability of certain spirit beasts to alter the weather the moment they appeared was also a trait. The ability of an Overlord spirit beast to influence the environment of an entire region and alter its attributes was likewise a trait.

"That can be shared too?"

Wang Mu suddenly felt he could afford to set his sights much farther ahead, and to advance more quickly as well. He ought not to waste too much time lingering at the lower levels.

His foundation did not need to reach one hundred percent.

Nor did he need to pursue perfection.

That was what ordinary people had to worry about.

For someone like him—someone who might as well have been cheating—all he needed to do was charge forward.

Besides, the foundations of other breeders were at best only sixty percent complete.

His had long since reached ninety-nine!