Chapter 20: A Great Harvest of Spells

On the Shenzhou Continent, aside from the mainstream Beast Tamers and Breeders, there were many other professions as well.

Jiang Meiqin's profession as a Spirit Chef allowed her to cook demon beasts or certain spirit beasts into dishes that could strengthen those who consumed them and produce all kinds of effects.

There were also Alchemists and Forgemasters, much like the alchemists and artifact refiners of xianxia and fantasy tales, who used various materials to create entirely new products.

Then there were Plant Cultivators, who specialized in growing all kinds of spirit plants. The previous five professions all depended on spirit plants. Their individual prices might not be especially high, but their transactions were usually done in bulk, so they were by no means poor. In fact, because of their profession, they could easily come into contact with various resources, and thus they were not usually weak either.

This Sun family was likely a newly risen Plant Cultivator family.

That much could be seen from the spirit beast Sun Haiming had summoned. It was a Spring Breeze Sprite, a pale green ball of light no bigger than a palm, with both wood and wind attributes. It belonged to the fairy-type spirit beasts. It had most likely been this spirit beast that had taught the Azure Jade Butterfly Lingyu its spells, which indirectly gave it a Shared Level of 2 with Wang Mu, allowing him to see its information.

Spring Breeze Sprite (Adult): 5

Bloodline: Elite

Talents: Wood (Intermediate, Mid Grade), Wind (Intermediate, Low Grade)

Inherited Spell: Spring Breeze (Control)

Spells: Growth (Perfection), Warm Wind (Control), Cold Wind (Control), Airflow (Control), Mistraising (Control), Bramble Growth (Control), Wind Blade (Control)

Shared Level: 2

The information Wang Mu obtained through his talent was not actually very detailed. It did not mark spell levels, nor did it explain their effects. He still had to learn those things from the outside world himself. Fairy-type spirit beasts generally possessed very high talents, but their evolution was extremely difficult.

For Plant Cultivators, the Greenwood Treant was the best possible companion. Great families would all contract one. Only newly risen families would choose the Spring Breeze Sprite.

Once this kind of sprite reached Commander Rank, it could master the mid-tier spell Spring Breeze. That spell could accelerate the growth speed of plants, make fruit trees blossom and bear fruit, stir animals and insects into breeding, and even awaken withered plants. This one had been lucky enough to inherit that spell directly.

Its other spells all had mastery no lower than Control. At first glance, that seemed excellent, but none of them leaned toward combat. They were all specialized for the cultivation of spirit plants—winds that raised or lowered the temperature, mist that increased humidity...

To Wang Mu, they were immensely valuable.

Qingling could make use of them, and once breeders reached the Breeder tier, they would often do some of the work of Plant Cultivators themselves, sometimes even surpassing them in that area. Wang Mu felt that this trade was an enormous gain.

He stared at the Spring Breeze Sprite for a while, then nodded to Sun Haiming. "It qualifies. However, Life Sense takes a relatively long time to teach, so it will have to remain here during that period. Will that be a problem?"

At a glance, this was clearly the Plant Cultivator's main contracted spirit beast. It most likely could not be away for long.

Yet to Wang Mu's surprise, Sun Haiming gritted his teeth and nodded. "That's fine. For the next few months, while I teach my son, I can leave Qingfeng here."

Wang Mu called over an intelligent robot and had it print out a contract. Sun Haiming read through it, found no problems, and signed it.

There were not many special conditions. He simply had to come regularly to the breeding center, spend time with Qingfeng, and comfort it. If a spirit beast stayed away from its master for too long, it would become anxious, which would not be conducive to Wang Mu's efforts to build rapport with it.

This time, Wang Mu did not merely pretend. He genuinely explained the basics of Life Sense to Qingfeng. After all, this was not a spirit beast he himself had bred, and its level of trust in him was not very high. If he only put on an act, it would be easy for the sprite to notice.

Wang Mu was not the least bit worried that the Spring Breeze Sprite would learn the spell on its own. If spells were so easy to master, there would not be such a high threshold for spell instruction in the first place.

Over the next few days, Wang Mu entered a steady routine: researching Oddshroom spores, reading literature, and instructing the Spring Breeze Sprite.

From time to time, he would even have Qingling and the Greenleaf Butterfly help teach the sprite. As they spent time together, the Shared Level rose rather quickly. Human-bred spirit beasts generally had a high degree of fondness toward humans, especially toward breeders. One only needed to prepare some food that spirit beasts liked, and it was fairly easy to get on good terms with them.

More importantly, the Spring Breeze Sprite's owner was also cooperating with Wang Mu and repeatedly told the sprite to listen to him. Naturally, everything proceeded even more smoothly.

In only a single month, their Shared Level had reached 5.

By then, Wang Mu had already shared over Growth at the Perfection level. As expected, the Spring Breeze Sprite still had not learned the spell Life Sense on its own. So one night, while it was asleep, Wang Mu shared the spell to it directly.

The sprite woke with a start and immediately sensed many different fields of life around it, some large and some small. Then it heard one of them speak.

"Congratulations. You've learned a new spell. Tomorrow, your master can take you home."

The little beam of light circled happily in the air, brimming with delight. Though it liked this place as well, its master was still better!

Wang Mu was delighted too.

Qingling was about to receive another wave of improvement, and the Greenleaf Butterfly would as well.

The next day, Sun Haiming came to take Qingfeng home. He wore a smile the entire time and never once stopped grinning. His family would rise to a new level in his hands.

And his son, too, would have the chance to climb to a higher peak as a Beast Tamer.

Over the past month, he had guided Sun Chuan's Azure Jade Butterfly every single day. He believed that before long, it would gain a second Control-level spell and thus have a real chance of meeting the requirements of the Growth Plan.

Because of that, Sun Haiming was unusually generous at that moment.

"Director, when do you have time? Some spirit plants are best planted early. I can come over and cultivate them for you whenever needed."

The cultivation of spirit plants was a major undertaking, and Wang Mu had already made preparations the moment he accepted the trade. So he answered at once, "There is indeed something I'd like to trouble you with."

Sun Haiming had vaguely guessed what was coming, and he immediately agreed. "Please go ahead."

"You're the Plant Cultivator here, so you're the professional. Help me buy a piece of land, and plant all the spirit plants there. In the future, the whole plot can be moved directly into my secret realm."

"So that was it..." Sun Haiming thought to himself. "But planning for a secret realm this early means this young breeder is truly confident."

After running through the matter in his mind and settling on a likely target, he finally said, "There are indeed a few spirit fields that were originally intended to be turned into secret realms, but the price may be a little steep. Either one hundred million, or a Commander-Rank juvenile with both earth and wood attributes."

Wang Mu immediately understood.

That price really meant the owner did not particularly wish to sell. He was keeping it for himself. But if the other party had enough skill and ability, then once the price rose high enough, he would still be willing to sell and simply use the money to build something even better.

For Wang Mu, however, that price was not much at all. The loose change on breeder equipment was worth far more than that.

So he agreed on the spot. "Then let's take that plot. Send the contract over when the time comes. I won't go myself. You'll handle that plot entirely, and there's no rush. As long as it can be inspected and accepted within two years, that's fine."

And with that, the matter was settled.

After completing one transaction, Wang Mu rested in peace for a day and adjusted his routine. On the second day, he began his great work of breeding.

Now that Shared Level restrictions were no longer a concern, Wang Mu only needed to feed the Greenleaf Caterpillars Verdant Spirit Dew to strengthen their bodies. That was the benefit of having Qingling. In the past, Wang Mu had needed to use Fortifying Base Fluid to strengthen the physiques of the larvae. Now, he had an endless supply of Verdant Spirit Dew.

With a single drop of Verdant Spirit Dew, a Greenleaf Caterpillar could reach the point where it could endure a Perfection-level spell. Wang Mu found himself quite curious—now that the spirit butterflies in this batch would be using even higher-grade spells, would they seize the position of the first Greenleaf Butterfly?

And more than that, this time he had several wind-attribute spells as well. He would definitely breed a wind-attribute spirit butterfly. If its attribute differed, could it become a new king?

Filled with curiosity, Wang Mu began the breeding process.

The first control group was naturally a purely wood-attribute group. Each individual carried two highly mastered spells. Why not more? Because a Greenleaf Caterpillar in the first molt stage could only endure two.

Since the mid-tier spell Spring Breeze was a unique compound spell of both wood and wind, all the Greenleaf Caterpillars in the second control group received Spring Breeze together with one other spell.

The third control group was purely wind-attribute: Cold Wind, Warm Wind, Airflow, and Wind Blade, again paired in sets of two.

The fourth group incorporated Spring Breeze.

The fifth group was comparatively simple. Among the water-attribute spells Wang Mu could currently share, only Mistraising at the Control level counted as a highly mastered spell.

The sixth group was a chaotic mixture—wood with water, wind with water, and even, once they reached their second molt, a third attribute would be added.

With this round of experimentation, Wang Mu had a premonition that Commander Rank would not be the upper limit.

At the same time, he kept a close eye on the Greenleaf Butterfly, because it had fallen asleep. While the newly bred Greenleaf Caterpillars were undergoing transformation, it had turned into a cocoon upon Qingling's body.

"It seems the order really matters more. As the first Greenleaf Butterfly to become king, every newly bred spirit butterfly afterward will contribute to its growth."

This time, Wang Mu seriously considered whether or not to contract the Greenleaf Butterfly.

To begin with, he had shared mental-type spells with Qingling. Because Qingling itself no longer moved and often used Mindforce instead, certain changes had begun to appear in it, and the feedback it gave Wang Mu now included mental aspects.

Coupled with Wang Mu's own powerful mental strength, that meant he was already able to contract a second spirit beast at the Second Rank.

Within the Greenleaf Butterfly lineage were species such as the Mind Butterfly, Silver Butterfly, and Phoenix-Eyed Butterfly, all of them mental-type. That meant the King of the Greenleaf Butterflies also possessed mental-type talent. If Wang Mu contracted it, then in the future he would receive all-around feedback from it. And if, one day, Wang Mu bred fully all-attribute spirit butterflies, then the Greenleaf Butterfly would gain those corresponding abilities as well.

It was common knowledge that mental-type paths possessed one special feature: where others could contract one spirit beast every two ranks, a mental-type Beast Tamer could contract one at every rank. The price, however, was that the Beast Tamer's physical body would not become especially strong, and their elemental affinities would increase more slowly as well.

But Wang Mu was a breeder.

He could cultivate spirit beasts of every attribute himself and possessed the Sharing talent besides, so he did not need to worry about elemental affinity, nor about weaknesses.

And considering that the Greenleaf Butterfly would eventually gain all elemental affinities, once contracted, Wang Mu would possess them all as well. He could even share them to other spirit beasts to assist in breeding. For him as a breeder, that would be an enormous enhancement.

Taking all of this together, Wang Mu made up his mind.

Once the Greenleaf Butterfly woke up, he would contract it.

Wang Mu continued breeding in an orderly fashion. The breeding center remained completely peaceful, yet within the Shanhai Breeders Association, a major matter had suddenly erupted.

Senior Breeder Liu Zhen believed he was on the verge of becoming a Breeding Master, so he gathered together the new-generation breeders of recent years along with several Junior and Mid-Level Breeders. He intended to redraw the division of Shanhai City's resources.

But an accident occurred.

At the moment he arrived at the Association with a group of people and was preparing to act, the surrounding plants began to grow wildly, and a green sun appeared in the sky. In the blink of an eye, everyone was dragged out of the Shenzhou Continent and into another domain-space.

This was the famous spell of the Shanhai Overlord, used for many years now—Shanhai Realm!

The master of this city had been stirred into action.