Huohuo Is Fighting for Favor

"Waaah~"

Exhausted, Xiao Xi slumped onto the table, looking completely worn out.

Zhou Lu helplessly patted Huohuo beside him, "Teacher Xiao Xi meant well, you can't act like this."

Huohuo stubbornly raised its new sprout: She stole my job!

After learning Entangling Vines and being able to use vines to do some work within its capabilities, Little Grass had always considered cleaning for Zhou Lu its sacred duty.

Upon seeing Xiao Xi taking over its job, the petty Huohuo immediately felt threatened, which led to this defensive reaction.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Xiao Xi." Zhou Lu finally managed to pacify Huohuo and apologized to Xiao Xi again, "Huohuo, it..."

"Initial Spirit Pets are like that," Xiao Xi said, struggling to sit up and rubbing its head. "Just like the first child, it's normal for them to have possessive feelings towards their master. However, with your Spirit Pet acting this way, you'll need to manage its emotions carefully when you contract a second Spirit Pet after leveling up."

"Let's not think that far ahead."

"That's not true," Xiao Xi said earnestly. "This is something you must consider. Spirit Pet coordination is one of the skills a Beast Tamer must master, and you definitely need to resolve conflicts between them."

"You can't go through all the Secret Realms with just one Spirit Pet. When Huohuo advances to the second tier, you will also advance. At that time, you'll have to consider a second pet."

As Xiao Xi spoke, it glanced at Huohuo. "With Huohuo's growth rate, you'll face this choice soon, and you must consider the second pet in advance."

There was nothing wrong with Xiao Xi's words.

A Beast Tamer's level grew along with their initial Spirit Pet. Each advancement granted an additional Beast Taming Card slot.

Of course, this didn't mean a Beast Tamer could only contract five Spirit Pets, but only five could be carried with them in Beast Taming Cards.

In the early days of the Beast Taming Era, many Beast Tamers adopted a "beast tide" tactic, controlling a large number of Spirit Pets for combat.

However, in modern times, the number of contracted Spirit Pets for most Beast Tamers actually increased with the number of Beast Taming Card slots.

As the main world gradually returned to peace, Beast Tamers rarely fought in the main world. Too many Spirit Pets that couldn't be stored in Beast Taming Cards would only become a burden.

Moreover, Secret Realms only allowed Spirit Pets on Beast Taming Cards to be brought along, so contracting more Spirit Pets was useless.

The changes of the era had gradually shifted the concept of Beast Tamers from the "beast tide" tactic towards cultivating elite Spirit Pets.

This was similar to how human fertility concepts gradually shifted from having many children to focusing on quality over quantity.

"A second pet..." Zhou Lu fell into thought.

Huohuo huffily tapped Zhou Lu's wrist: Don't think about it!

Alright, it hadn't even reached tier two yet, and Huohuo was already getting jealous.

Zhou Lu chuckled and rubbed Huohuo's leaves. "Let's talk about this after we reach tier two. The most important thing right now is to improve your own strength."

Huohuo immediately raised its tender leaves, full of spirit: I'll work hard to get stronger!

As long as it worked hard to become indispensable to its master, it wouldn't have to worry about other Spirit Pets stealing its master's affection!

With this realization, Huohuo immediately put aside the issue of the future second pet and began crawling around the room. It crawled to the door and used a broom to pick up the dustpan.

Xiao Xi saw this: "I've already cleaned the room."

Huohuo dumped the trash from the bin onto the floor: Now it's dirty again!

"..."

Xiao Xi watched speechlessly as Huohuo happily cleaned the room.

"Say, did you learn any weird skills in the Linxi Secret Realm?" Xiao Xi withdrew its gaze and asked Zhou Lu.

"What's wrong?"

"I just felt it, Huohuo was trying to stuff a branch into my body." Xiao Xi rolled its eyes. "A normal branch wouldn't be this small."

"If I tell you, can you give me Fairy Coins?"

Xiao Xi glanced at Zhou Lu. "If you allow others to buy this information with Fairy Coins, I can give it to you."

"Then forget it."

"Even if you don't tell me, I can guess. There aren't many creatures in the Linxi Secret Realm that can make a branch exhibit this form..." Xiao Xi paused in thought. "Ghost Face Nightmare Butterfly? So Absorption can indeed absorb racial skills."

"Teacher Xiao Xi is indeed a Knowledge Fairy." Zhou Lu opened his computer and browsed the forum. He wasn't surprised that Xiao Xi could guess this far.

Xiao Xi flew to Zhou Lu's side and sat on his shoulder, looking at the content he was browsing on his computer. "You plan to go to the Mountain River Secret Realm? Are you in such a hurry to practice the Body Feed skill?"

"Aren't Academic Credits meant for this?"

"Most people wouldn't schedule their itinerary so tightly. Didn't you just return from the Linxi Secret Realm?" Xiao Xi swung its legs, its calves repeatedly bumping against Zhou Lu's collarbone.

"If I need rest, I can rest in a Secret Realm too." Zhou Lu was looking up information about the Mountain River Secret Realm.

Xiao Xi didn't speak further, just sat quietly on Zhou Lu's shoulder, its calves rhythmically bumping against his collarbone.

"So," after a brief silence, it spoke again, "why are you working so hard?"

"To become stronger, what else?"

"And why do you want to become stronger?"

"..." Zhou Lu couldn't answer for a moment. He couldn't exactly say it was because of the system.

"Those Beast Tamers dedicated to becoming professional players do indeed work hard at this stage. But their goal in becoming stronger is to join the School Team, using it as a stepping stone to enter professional clubs." Xiao Xi said, "But you're almost working non-stop, not even going to check out the School Team recruitment. It doesn't seem like you want to join the School Team, so I don't understand why you're working so hard."

"Not everyone wants to be a professional player," Zhou Lu said, finding a suitable training cliff face on the webpage.

"Then do you want to join a company's exploration team? Or the military?" Xiao Xi listed out the career paths for most Combat Department Beast Tamers one by one.

"What exactly do you want to ask, Teacher Xiao Xi?" Zhou Lu chuckled. "This doesn't seem like the kind of question a Knowledge Fairy would ask to get to the bottom of things."

Xiao Xi fell silent again. After a long pause, she slowly spoke, "Then I'll be direct. Are you still bothered by your father's death?"

Zhou Lu hadn't expected Xiao Xi to bring this up so suddenly and didn't know how to answer. However, he keenly caught the tone in her voice: "Do you know the truth about my father's death?"

"No," Xiao Xi stated directly. "But I might be able to guess some things."

"Can your guess be bought with Fairy Coins?"

"Three thousand."

"Holy crap! Are you robbing me?!"

Xiao Xi crossed her arms. "This guess is worth that much."

"Then forget it. I'll get stronger myself and find the truth." Zhou Lu suddenly realized that Xiao Xi's words had given him a very reasonable excuse.

If there really was a hidden story behind his father's death, the mastermind would definitely not remain indifferent seeing his son trying so desperately to get stronger and find the truth!

As long as they acted, there would be a flaw.

At the same time, he could also very well hide the real reason he wanted to become stronger beneath this excuse.

Just then, Zhou Lu's hand, which was sliding the mouse, stopped.

His gaze fell on a post on the school forum:

[Are you students of Xin'an Beast Taming Academy really so dishonorable? Publicly robbing people in a Secret Realm!]