Huohuo Was Fighting for Favor

"Woo~"

Drained of all strength, Xiao Xi lay limply sprawled across the table, looking as though she had been thoroughly played out.

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

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

After learning Entangling Vines and becoming able to use its vines for small tasks within its capabilities, Little Grass had always regarded helping Zhou Lu clean as its sacred duty.

The moment it saw Xiao Xi stealing its job, petty-minded Huohuo immediately sensed a crisis, which was why it had reacted so intensely.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Xiao Xi." After much difficulty calming Huohuo down, Zhou Lu apologized to Xiao Xi again. "Huohuo, it..."

"Initial spirit pets are like that." Xiao Xi laboriously climbed back up, sat there rubbing her head, and said, "They're like the first child—they naturally have a possessive streak toward their owner. But with your spirit pet acting like this, once you level up and want to contract a second spirit pet, you'd better prepare it mentally."

"Let's not think that far ahead yet."

"No, you have to." Xiao Xi said seriously, "This is something you must consider. Cooperation between spirit pets is one of the skills Beast Tamers must master. You definitely need to mediate the conflicts between them."

"You can't travel through every Secret Realm with just one spirit pet. When Huohuo advances to Rank Two, you'll advance along with it. At that point, you'll have to consider getting a second pet."

As she spoke, Xiao Xi glanced at Huohuo. "With Huohuo's growth rate, you'll face that choice very soon. You need to consider what kind of second pet to choose in advance."

There was nothing wrong with what Xiao Xi said.

A Beast Tamer's level grew alongside their initial spirit pet, and each advancement granted another Beast Taming Card slot.

Of course, that did not mean a Beast Tamer could only contract a maximum of five spirit pets. It merely meant that only five spirit pets could be stored in Beast Taming Cards and carried around.

In the early days of the Beast Taming era, many Beast Tamers followed the beast-tide strategy, controlling huge numbers of spirit pets in battle.

But in modern times, the number of contracts held by most Beast Tamers really did increase along with their number of Beast Taming Card slots.

After all, as peace returned to the main world, Beast Tamers rarely fought there. Too many spirit pets that could not be stored in Beast Taming Cards would only become a burden.

Moreover, only spirit pets on Beast Taming Cards could be brought into Secret Realms. No matter how many spirit pets one contracted, it was useless.

Changes in the times had gradually shifted Beast Tamers' mindset from beast-tide tactics toward cultivating elite spirit pets.

It was like humanity's views on childbirth gradually shifting from having many children and raising many children to better births and better upbringing.

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

Huohuo angrily slapped Zhou Lu's wrist: Don't think about it!

Well then, Rank Two was not even in sight, yet Huohuo had already started getting jealous.

Zhou Lu smiled and rubbed Huohuo's leaves. "We'll talk about that after we reach Rank Two. For now, the most important thing is improving your own strength."

Huohuo immediately lifted its tender leaves, brimming with determination: I'll work hard and become stronger!

As long as it worked hard and became strong, becoming someone its master could not do without, it would not need to worry about other spirit pets stealing its master's affection!

Having figured that out, Huohuo immediately tossed the matter of a future second pet to the back of its mind. It crawled around the room, then crawled over to the door and used its vines to roll up the broom.

Xiao Xi saw this. "I already cleaned the room."

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

"..."

Xiao Xi watched Huohuo happily cleaning the room, utterly speechless.

"Say, did you learn some strange skill in the Linxi Secret Realm?" Xiao Xi withdrew her gaze and looked at Zhou Lu.

"What is it?"

"I could feel it just now—Huohuo was planning to stuff its offshoot into my body." Xiao Xi rolled her eyes. "Ordinary offshoots can't possibly be that small."

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

Xiao Xi glanced at Zhou Lu. "If you permit others to purchase that information with Fairy Coins, then I can pay 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 could make an offshoot take on that form..." As she spoke, Xiao Xi thought for a moment. "The Ghost Face Nightmare Butterfly? So Drain can indeed absorb Racial Skills."

"Teacher Xiao Xi truly lives up to being a Knowledge Fairy." Zhou Lu opened his computer and browsed the forums. He was not surprised that Xiao Xi had guessed that much.

Xiao Xi flew over to Zhou Lu, plopped down on his shoulder, and looked at what he was browsing on his computer. "You're planning to go to the Mountain River Secret Realm? Are you in such a hurry to practice the skill Body Feed?"

"What else are Academic Credits for?"

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

"You can rest in a Secret Realm too." Zhou Lu searched up information related to the Mountain River Secret Realm.

Xiao Xi said nothing more. She merely sat quietly on Zhou Lu's shoulder, her calves rhythmically tapping against his collarbone.

"So." After a brief silence, she spoke again. "What are you working so desperately for?"

"To get stronger. What else could it be for?"

"And what do you want to get stronger for?"

"..." Zhou Lu could not answer for a moment. He could hardly say it was because of the system.

"Beast Tamers determined to become professional players do indeed work desperately at this stage. But their goal in becoming stronger is to enter the School Team, using it as a springboard into a professional club," Xiao Xi said. "But you're practically running nonstop. You aren't even going to check out the School Team recruitment, so you don't seem like someone who wants to join the School Team. That's why I don't understand why you're working so desperately."

"Not everyone wants to become a professional player." Zhou Lu found a suitable cliff face for training on the webpage.

"Then do you want to join a company exploration team? Or the Pioneer Army?" Xiao Xi listed, one by one, the career paths chosen by most Beast Tamers from the Combat Department.

"What exactly are you trying to ask, Teacher Xiao Xi?" Zhou Lu smiled. "This doesn't seem like the kind of question a Knowledge Fairy would keep digging into."

Xiao Xi fell silent again. Only after a long time did she slowly say, "Then I'll be direct. Do you still care about your father's death?"

Zhou Lu had not expected Xiao Xi to suddenly bring that up. For a moment, he did not know how to answer. But he sharply caught the tone in which she had said it. "Do you know the truth behind my father's death?"

"I don't." Xiao Xi answered bluntly. "But I think I can guess some of it."

"Can your guess be bought with Fairy Coins?"

"Three thousand."

"Holy shit! Are you robbing me?!"

Xiao Xi crossed her arms over her chest. "That guess is worth that much."

"Then forget it. I'll grow stronger myself and search for the truth." Zhou Lu suddenly realized that Xiao Xi's words had given him a very reasonable line to use.

If there really was some hidden truth behind his father's death, then the mastermind behind it would certainly not remain indifferent upon seeing his son desperately growing stronger in pursuit of the truth!

As long as they acted, there would be flaws to exploit.

At the same time, he could conceal his true reason for wanting to become stronger beneath that explanation.

At that moment, Zhou Lu's hand stopped scrolling the mouse.

His gaze fell upon a post on the campus forum:

Are the students at your Xin'an Beast Taming Academy really so devoid of martial virtue? You actually openly robbed people inside a Secret Realm!