Mushroom-Growing Girl: [Fuck! They're posting another little essay again, aren't they? I'll bet 100 Academic Credits it's those Linzhou bastards!]
Mushroom-Growing Girl: [Fuck, it really is! You Linzhou lot are just asking for it! Can't beat others in the Secret Realm, so you like posting little essays online to cyberbully people, huh?]
Mushroom-Growing Girl: [Let me read your little essay. I'll tear it apart line by line!]
Want to Fuck a Red-tailed Fox: [Mushroom Sis, stop, stop! It's not worth getting mad over those Linzhou assholes. If you curse them until their blood boils, they'll come knocking and ask for a beating again. You should curse us instead.]
Mud Monster Is Soft and Moist: [Yeah, yeah.]
Mushroom-Growing Girl: [Wait, what's with your two usernames? How did those even pass review?]
Zhou Lu sat off to the side helplessly, watching Wu Xiaoqing furiously type on her phone.
Huohuo lay sprawled over the railing around the mushroom field, staring at the mushrooms growing vigorously inside with an eager look on its face.
Yet today, it seemed somewhat absentminded. Every now and then, it would "look" toward a small glass bottle on Wu Xiaoqing's desk.
"Sister Xiaoqing, do you have this much free time every day?" Zhou Lu asked helplessly.
Why was Wu Xiaoqing always arguing with people online whenever he came over?
"It's fine, it's fine. Today was my day off anyway." Wu Xiaoqing sounded indignant as she spoke. "Those people from Linzhou Beast Taming Academy are all fucking bullies who fear the strong and pick on the weak. They can't beat us in academy competitions, so they bully our Xin'an students in the Secret Realm. If they can't gain an advantage, they run around posting little essays and spreading rumors! I'm furious!"
"Aren't they just asking to be cursed out?"
"Asking to be cursed out? Heh heh, don't assume everyone else is that stupid." Wu Xiaoqing looked at Zhou Lu. "They don't care what we think. Those posts are meant for bystanders. Think about it: you're a student planning to apply to a Beast Taming Academy, and you visit the academy forum in advance. The moment you click in, you see nothing but posts like this. What would you think?"
"Wouldn't the moderators delete them?"
"Heh heh, wouldn't that be even better? It would prove we had a guilty conscience. Then they could take evidence of the deleted posts and keep crying about it on the public internet." Wu Xiaoqing was clearly experienced with this. "This isn't their first time doing this. Don't take it to heart either. If you run into anyone from Linzhou in a Secret Realm later, don't hesitate. Just hit them."
"Huh?"
Wu Xiaoqing proudly thrust out her chest. "As long as we actually do it, then they aren't spreading rumors! We're doing it for their own good."
That novel train of thought left Zhou Lu unable to wrap his head around it for a while.
Clack.
Wu Xiaoqing set her phone on the table and stretched lazily.
Zhou Lu asked curiously, "You're not going to keep cursing them?"
"No more. Their blood is boiling now, and they said they want to challenge our School Team to a match." Yawning, Wu Xiaoqing said, "Young people are just too hot-blooded."
Wasn't that because you cursed them too viciously...?
"Oh, right. The place they chose for the challenge seems to be the Mountain River Secret Realm." Wu Xiaoqing suddenly said, "Aren't you heading there? You can go watch the fun."
Zhou Lu stroked his chin. "I'll get Body Feed down first. If it's still going on by then, I'll go watch."
"You really want to go?" Wu Xiaoqing had not expected that.
"I want to see how other people's Beast Tamers fight and learn from their experience." Zhou Lu was not going there to reclaim his pride. If he really had the mindset of a college student, perhaps he would have entertained such thoughts.
Anyone who had been beaten down by society had to weigh every action carefully. He could not be bothered with anything that offered no benefit.
If the system suddenly popped up with a mission now, he might very well start preparing to beat people up immediately.
He had already decided not to take the competitive route, but avoiding competitions did not mean competitive Beast Tamers had nothing at all worth learning from.
Skill combinations and the use of spirit beast traits were all areas in which many competitive Beast Tamers excelled.
Zhou Lu still did not have a good target for a second pet. He could look for inspiration in these Beast Tamers' matches.
Although many spirit pets could work well with Huohuo, such as Sticky Baby, some of their skills could be acquired by Huohuo through Drain.
Zhou Lu did not think wasting a Beast Taming slot on them was worthwhile.
Of course, he had another option: wait for the system's missions.
This system would surely have missions that obstructed him from obtaining a second pet—if his second pet was also destined to play a pivotal role in the future.
He could not wait.
Or rather, he could not wait for the system to hand out missions like an idiot.
There were only two ways to obtain a second pet: buy one, or capture one in the wild.
Given Zhou Lu's finances, the only possibility was to imitate the protagonists of those old-school Beast Taming novels and snag a rare spirit beast cub or egg at an auction. Otherwise, he would never obtain his second pet through purchase.
So Zhou Lu still focused mainly on capturing one in the wild.
But Huohuo's Special Evolution had not even been completed yet. It was far too early to worry about a second pet.
With that thought, Zhou Lu's gaze fell on the small glass bottle Wu Xiaoqing was fiddling with.
Several grains of vermilion-red soil lay inside the glass bottle.
Ever since Huohuo had entered this laboratory, it had kept glancing at the bottle from time to time, displaying an intense longing for it.
As its Beast Tamer, Zhou Lu naturally sensed Huohuo's feelings and asked, "What is that?"
Wu Xiaoqing turned the bottle over in her hand and said, "A soil sample sent over from the C1422 Secret Realm. The Pioneer Army found it near the Vermilion Bird Temple and sent it to me for testing."
The C1422 Secret Realm!
Zhou Lu glanced at the system.
If he remembered correctly, the system's optional mission eight had required him to go to the C1422 Secret Realm and seize Vermilion Bird Manure Soil.
He had been wondering where he would have learned about this if not for the system.
So it had been from Sister Xiaoqing...
"Why are you interested in it?" Wu Xiaoqing asked.
Zhou Lu did not hide it. "Huohuo seems very interested in it."
"Interested?"
Wu Xiaoqing's eyes lit up. As a professional postgraduate student in cultivation studies, she naturally knew what that meant.
"That means this could very well be Huohuo's Evolution Material!" Wu Xiaoqing abruptly sat upright.
Looking at the serious Wu Xiaoqing, Zhou Lu instead felt a little unfamiliar with her.
Before him, Sister Xiaoqing was always so carefree and frivolous. Seeing her this serious was rare.
"I need to find a way to fleece more of this soil from the Pioneer Army." Wu Xiaoqing stroked her chin.
"Mm! I'll say this soil is extremely effective for cultivating Mutated Enlarged Delicious Mushrooms!"
Wu Xiaoqing slapped her fist into her palm as she spoke.
Don't put your seriousness to use on this kind of thing, hey!
"I can... go myself..." Zhou Lu glanced at the system.
"No!" Wu Xiaoqing slapped the table, her expression extremely serious. "The Vermilion Bird Temple is outside the safe zone. If you go, there won't be any safety instructors accompanying you! Waiting for me to scam... no, apply for the materials is the safest option."
"That's true, but..."
Zhou Lu looked at the system.
But three selectable B-rank Spirit Beast Skill Cards were simply too tempting.
Before you continue